28 May, 2010

Authors You've Gotta Read - Kurt Vonnegut

I love an author who can get me laughing out loud while reading and only rarely do I find one. And I'm talking about busting up laughing with people awkwardly staring at me.

Kurt Vonnegut is one of those authors as will be shown below. He is probably most famous for Slaughterhouse-Five [US] [UK], but my favorite by far has to be his science fiction piece, The Sirens of Titan [US] [UK]. Recently, I listened to Kurt's autobiography, A Man Without a Country and found some priceless bits of advice...

Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing.All they do is show you've been to college."

If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your sould grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a firend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.

We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different.
Gems only Vonnegut could give the world.

2 comments:

logankstewart said...

Ooh, I loved Cat's Cradle. Vonnegut was an exceptional writer.

Nice quotes. I've not read A Man Without A Country, but I hear it's good.

Bryce L. said...

Cat's Cradle is another good one. A Man w/o A Country is just him rambling about politics, grammar, people, beliefs. Pretty much anything on his mind. Pretty funny stuff as usual.