Kurt Vonnegut, Smuggling Wheelbarrows, and Therapy
It’s probably a little early in the process for me to start commenting on an audio book I’ve only just started listening to, but I can’t help myself. God bless him, I love Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - and even though I’ve only read the introduction, written and read by his son, Mark Vonnegut, and part of the first speech - read by Rip Torn (love that name - always reminds me of Dash Riprock on The Beverly Hillbillies. That character was played by Larry Pennell - who most of you probably did NOT know played KIMOSABE in the cult movie sensation BUBBA HOTEP)
Anyway…two things so far have stuck with me. One is a joke that Vonnegut used to tell. It involves a man who crossed a border every day with a wheelbarrow load of junk. Every day, the man in charge of customs went through the wheelbarrow with a fine-toothed comb, trying to figure out what the man was carrying across the border. The guard was certain the man was a smuggler, but though he searched every inch of the wheelbarrow every day, he could find no contraband.
Finally, the guard pulled the man aside.
“I can’t stand it any longer he said. I am not going to arrest you, but I have to know. Every day you cross the border with all that junk, and I cannot figure out what you are doing!”
The man looked at him, smiled, and said… “I am smuggling wheelbarrows.”
There are a lot of uses for such a joke…it certainly teaches one to look at what is right in front of their face. I’m sure I butchered the joke - I’ve only heard it once, second hand…forgive me?
The other thing that stuck with me was that Vonnegut had a distrust of psychiatry (I do, as well, to be honest) He was afraid, or so he says, that if he went to a therapist they might make him “normal,” and that if they did he’d no longer be able to write. In fact, the man’s greatest fear seems to have been that every great idea he ever had would be his last…
His son Mark re-assured him - “No therapist is that good.”
It does make you wonder, though, about how our minds work…two different people see the same thing. One can describe it, make stories up about it - the other barely notices it is there, but when he reads the words his companion writes about it - remembers. Vonnegut also said that if you can’t write a thing down clearly, maybe you don’t think as well as you think you think (lol). So true. How many times have I wondered why someone who seems perfectly eloquent in conversation goes to write something down, and has trouble remembering to use conjunctions, or to conjugate verbs properly? A lot of times, that’s how many.
Anyway - the audio book is ARMAGEDDON IN RETROSPECT - and I highly recommend it, just on the strength of what I’ve heard so far. I’m certain I’ll continue to annoy you with things from it as I listen…it’s what blogs are for…you can talk and talk and even though people can click away, they can’t interrupt.
-DNW
10/10/08, 2:44 PM |
Hello David,
I’m the Author Liaison for Red Room.com, and we’re planning on celebrating NaNoWriMo next month by highlighting some successful authors who’ve participated. Red Room is also a great place to reach hundreds of thousands of readers, and I’d be happy to help you create a presence there.
I apologize for posting this as an unrelated comment, but I couldn’t find your email address!
As a side note, I’m sure the book is good, I mean, it’s Vonnegut for crying out loud, but the audiobook sounds especially good. I may have to pick it up.