My writing has turned to shit. So, I’ve decided to remedy this by reading a particular work of fiction I enjoy for 20 minutes before bed and then writing 500 words about it in the morning. It could be an analysis of the writing style, a story in mimicking the writing style, or a free response to whatever the reading has sparked in my imagination. I’m doing this with hope that this exercise will discipline not only my writing but my reading as well. Warning: I am very rusty, so this post will be rough, but like getting beck into the habit of exercising, starting is always the hardest hurdle to jump.
Last night, I continued reading Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. His imagination is an interesting one to dwell in, to say the least. I picked up in the asylum where Valencia is visiting Billy Pilgrim, and Billy drags Eliot Rosewater into their conversation. Rosewater, an off beat recovering war veteran, is prominently characterized by his obsession with an esoteric sci-fi writer, Kilgore Trout. (I also want to make note of the great character naming skills Vonnegut possess: Valencia, Billy Pilgrim, Eliot Rosewater, Kilgore Trout, something about them— something I need to look into further. He captures something very precise, yet not obvious, about who the character is through their names.) The book of discussion is titled The Gospel from Outer Space. Religion is a delicate topic to talk about, especially when writing fiction, because one doesn’t know who their reader is, their religion, tradition or background and also, one doesn’t want the readers to stop reading. This tactic Vonnegut uses is brilliant: the tool of a fictional sci-fi book to explore some ideas about Christianity, that otherwise, if explicitly laid out, would be controversial. He does this by dragging religion into the same realm of fiction and fantasy. Once he establishes that, Vonnegut can go on making his off-beat, radical Vonnegut claims ad-nasuem, because they are being spit out in a digestible way for the reader to swallow, regardless of the religion readers are from. (Most conservative readers would have already been put off at this point in the novel anyway.) As an alien from outer-space, he observes that the a serious study of Christianity in search of why “Christains found it so easy to be cruel.” The reason driving their cruelty can be pinned on the New Testemant. The Gospels main lesson being: “Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn’t well connected.” I found this argument hysterical, and couldn’t not stop from myself from actually laughing out loud through this entire scene.
My twenty minutes are up, however I will just make some fragmented notes.
NOTES ABOUT VONNEGUTS WRITING STYLE:
- Billy “says” barely anything. His statements are usually limited to one word or brief responses, and almost never says anything without being prompted first by a question. The words he vocalizes are like the tip of the iceberg that is his mind. Deep under the waters of his subconscious, his thoughts are vastly more expansive and complex than his vocalized words make him appear to be.
- This observation becomes obvious when we are with Billy in the most intimate situation with another human: making love with newly wedded wife Valencia on their honeymoon. After sex, they are both naked lying in bed and she continually is making statements and asking questions that he is responding with only one word answers. However, since the reader has access to his thought as well as his words, we know this is just the surface. Valencia nails it on the head when she makes the statement:
“I look at you sometimes … and I get a funny feeling that you’re full just full of secrets.’
‘I’m not,’ said Billy. This was a lie, of course. He hadn’t told anybody about all the time-traveling he’s done, about Tralfamadore and so on.”
She captures Billy’s essence in this one statement:
“You must have secrets about the war. Or, not secrets, I guess, but things you don’t want to talk about.”
“Or, not secrets,” is the key. He avoids things he doesn’t want to talk about by turning them into fantasy: aliens, time-travel, Tralfamdore.
-Vonnegut also uses very simple language to deliver difficult things to swallow about war, life, violence.
- Another observation is that when Billy time travels his physical states always remains the same. He has to take a leak while he’s at the hotel in Cape Anne with Valencia. When he goes through the bathroom door and “time-travels” into the war prison, he still has to take a leak. He no longer is on his honey moon, but in Dresden, and yet he still has to pee. Billy physical state stays the same while his mental state changes.
