Vonnegut was most famous for his novel Slaughterhouse Five, the story of a man, circa post-WWII, traveling at random through time, re-living the events of his own life, including his death, multiple times. The hero knows he is time-traveling as he repeats the events of his life, but he can do nothing to change events, or choose when or where in his life he will travel, or stop his time traveling. Eventually he accepts his fate, adopting the philosophy of fatalism, and in doing so he acquires peace.
Recurring themes throughout Vonnegut's work are determinism, iconoclasm, humanism, and fatalism, revealing much about the author's own attitudes to the world, and to life and death. He was also a great literary experimenter. Vonnegut's plots are disjointed, and many of his characters are more thematic devices than characters. He also used metafiction, using sections of a novel to write about the novel, sometimes appearing as himself in the narrative. For example, in Breakfast of Champions, one of his bestsellers, we get the great humorous exchange:
"This is a very bad book you're writing," I said to myself.
"I know," I said.
This novel is also a sort of all-star novel, featuring many cameos by characters from several other of Vonnegut's works, including, for example, the frequently appearing Kilgore Trout, an unsuccessful though prolific sf writer.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Charles Bukowski
So many sites about or including Charles Bukowski. He was a post-beat, beat generation writer. For ten years he worked in the Post Office, then quit to write - primarily poetry. Referred to at times as the Poet of Skid Row, he lived close enough - just below or just above - the poverty line to know what he was talking about. He wrote poetry, short stories that are often prose poems (as are many of his poems) and novels that belong in the category called fictive biography. www.rooknet.com/beatpage/writers/bukowski The Beat Page gives a good intro to Bukowski's work. It is a relatively old site dedicated to Beat writers. There are links to other beat-related sites, bios of beat authors, and a list of top ten beat books.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Masamune - Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell. Shirow Masamune. Kodansha Ltd (Japan), and Dark Horse Manga (U.S.) 2004.
The manga 'Ghost in the Shell', comes securely wrapped in cellophane, with a parental advisory warning label on the front c over. Yes, it includes a little of everything you would expect when seeing a parental advisory.
It is an excellent book. Basically it is a serious, adult science fiction (cyber-punk or post-cyberpunk) illustrated novel. Or put another way, it is an adult comic book. The setting is a future in which the technology and the human have begun to overlap. Some humans chose to have their bodies partially or entirely replaced by robot bodies, making them cyborgs. These bodies are indistinguishable from human bodies (except for the weight), and in some cases they have enhanced strength, hidden attached weapons, and other devices. Also there are robots which likewise look, and largely behave, like humans. The difference can often only be determined by a scan to detect a 'ghost', basically the spirit, residing inside the body.
The main character is Major Motoko Kusanagi, of 'section 6', a special forces unit of the Japanese police. Most of the story is an excellent police/military/spy thriller-adventure. But inlaid with the action is philosophic-scientific speculation on several questions, primarily: 'What is human?'. Masamune references engineering, biology, chemistry, Buddhism, the Kabbalah, western philosophy, etc.
The main characters are interesting but not always sympathetic, because in their crime-fighting journeys, they are sometimes jaded and unsympathetic toward the victims. Does this simply mean they are sometimes assholes, or is Masamune suggesting their partial or total mechanization is making them less human?
The manga 'Ghost in the Shell', comes securely wrapped in cellophane, with a parental advisory warning label on the front c over. Yes, it includes a little of everything you would expect when seeing a parental advisory.
It is an excellent book. Basically it is a serious, adult science fiction (cyber-punk or post-cyberpunk) illustrated novel. Or put another way, it is an adult comic book. The setting is a future in which the technology and the human have begun to overlap. Some humans chose to have their bodies partially or entirely replaced by robot bodies, making them cyborgs. These bodies are indistinguishable from human bodies (except for the weight), and in some cases they have enhanced strength, hidden attached weapons, and other devices. Also there are robots which likewise look, and largely behave, like humans. The difference can often only be determined by a scan to detect a 'ghost', basically the spirit, residing inside the body.
The main character is Major Motoko Kusanagi, of 'section 6', a special forces unit of the Japanese police. Most of the story is an excellent police/military/spy thriller-adventure. But inlaid with the action is philosophic-scientific speculation on several questions, primarily: 'What is human?'. Masamune references engineering, biology, chemistry, Buddhism, the Kabbalah, western philosophy, etc.
The main characters are interesting but not always sympathetic, because in their crime-fighting journeys, they are sometimes jaded and unsympathetic toward the victims. Does this simply mean they are sometimes assholes, or is Masamune suggesting their partial or total mechanization is making them less human?
Friday, May 8, 2009
Camus - The Outsider
The Outsider. Albert Camus. Penguin Books. 1988.
Albert Camus' The Outsider is his famous existential novel.
The trial portions are the most interesting and vital parts of the novel. And this from someone who normally is bored with courtroom stuff.
The earlier sections build the background needed for the later stages, and provide the needed plot developments that bring the hero to the his imprisonment. But the author seems impatient with these early portions, and writes in a minimalist style, not only for craft, but to get them over with quickly.
The brilliant dialogue, the philosophical theme, is packed into the trial stages. There are some great scenes here. And the hero is perhaps unique in literature.
I recommend reading through the first sections quickly, then after the arrest, especially once the trial begins, slow down the reading and think about what is being written. And enjoy!
Albert Camus' The Outsider is his famous existential novel.
The trial portions are the most interesting and vital parts of the novel. And this from someone who normally is bored with courtroom stuff.
The earlier sections build the background needed for the later stages, and provide the needed plot developments that bring the hero to the his imprisonment. But the author seems impatient with these early portions, and writes in a minimalist style, not only for craft, but to get them over with quickly.
The brilliant dialogue, the philosophical theme, is packed into the trial stages. There are some great scenes here. And the hero is perhaps unique in literature.
I recommend reading through the first sections quickly, then after the arrest, especially once the trial begins, slow down the reading and think about what is being written. And enjoy!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Brackett - Ginger Star
The Ginger Star. Leigh Brackett. Ballantine Books. 1974.
In this novel, Brackett reintroduces Eric John Stark, a hero of a couple of stories many years previous. After writing sf for many years, including some Stark tales, she turned to screenwriting. She wrote such films as Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep. Shortly after returning to sf writing, she wrote Star Wars part five, The Empire Strikes Back.
The Ginger Star is part one of a three part series. It is a quest story. Stark arrives on a distant and hostile planet in search of his missing foster-father. The planet is ruled by dictators known as Wandsmen. Technology is limited. There is only one spaceport on the planet, set up recently by outsiders, and in danger of being shut down by the Wandsmen, who prefer to rule a dying planet than see the people leave for other worlds and be beyond their power.
The strongest part of the book is in the creation of the many places and people. Most are extremely vivid and well thought out. There is a sense that these people and places could be real.
On this planet there are city states, wandering nomads, and human hybrids. Almost all are unrelentingly hostile to all outsiders. The oceans are filled with creatures who were once human, then altered their own genes to adapt to an underwater environment. More millenia later, they have lost all trace of their humanity, and attack and devour any human who falls into the water. Another civilization has adapted itself to live underground. Several societies use magic derived from close contact with the natural forces of the planet. Others live in city-states more recognizable in lifestyle to Stark and to the reader.
This brings us to another key point of the book: most of the civilizations are cannibals. They not only kill outsiders, they eat them. This is explained as resulting from a lack of other food on the dying world. The few city states near the equator seem relatively benign; travel is possible, and they are not cannibals. But wandering hordes of religious fanatics named Farers make their life difficult also.
In this world, it is impossible to travel without a large heavily armed group. There is one city state that seems to be a gathering spot for travelers, but it is unclear where anyone might travel to in this hostile environment. Even the workers at bridges on routes between cities attack any party that seems insufficiently strong. Only one man lives as a trader. He has to establish and keep his route with armed force, and suffers constant attacks.
This world is designed to give Stark a lot of dangers to overcome. But it was designed too well. In such a brutal, inhospitable group of societies, to travel anywhere is absurd.
The device used to move Stark from one place to another is to be captured, over and over again, and carried along part way by his various captors. He escapes usually by luck, sometimes by his own efforts. It is a weakness of the book. He manages to encounter a danger without capture only once, near the book's conclusion.
In this novel, Brackett reintroduces Eric John Stark, a hero of a couple of stories many years previous. After writing sf for many years, including some Stark tales, she turned to screenwriting. She wrote such films as Rio Bravo, and The Big Sleep. Shortly after returning to sf writing, she wrote Star Wars part five, The Empire Strikes Back.
The Ginger Star is part one of a three part series. It is a quest story. Stark arrives on a distant and hostile planet in search of his missing foster-father. The planet is ruled by dictators known as Wandsmen. Technology is limited. There is only one spaceport on the planet, set up recently by outsiders, and in danger of being shut down by the Wandsmen, who prefer to rule a dying planet than see the people leave for other worlds and be beyond their power.
The strongest part of the book is in the creation of the many places and people. Most are extremely vivid and well thought out. There is a sense that these people and places could be real.
On this planet there are city states, wandering nomads, and human hybrids. Almost all are unrelentingly hostile to all outsiders. The oceans are filled with creatures who were once human, then altered their own genes to adapt to an underwater environment. More millenia later, they have lost all trace of their humanity, and attack and devour any human who falls into the water. Another civilization has adapted itself to live underground. Several societies use magic derived from close contact with the natural forces of the planet. Others live in city-states more recognizable in lifestyle to Stark and to the reader.
This brings us to another key point of the book: most of the civilizations are cannibals. They not only kill outsiders, they eat them. This is explained as resulting from a lack of other food on the dying world. The few city states near the equator seem relatively benign; travel is possible, and they are not cannibals. But wandering hordes of religious fanatics named Farers make their life difficult also.
In this world, it is impossible to travel without a large heavily armed group. There is one city state that seems to be a gathering spot for travelers, but it is unclear where anyone might travel to in this hostile environment. Even the workers at bridges on routes between cities attack any party that seems insufficiently strong. Only one man lives as a trader. He has to establish and keep his route with armed force, and suffers constant attacks.
This world is designed to give Stark a lot of dangers to overcome. But it was designed too well. In such a brutal, inhospitable group of societies, to travel anywhere is absurd.
The device used to move Stark from one place to another is to be captured, over and over again, and carried along part way by his various captors. He escapes usually by luck, sometimes by his own efforts. It is a weakness of the book. He manages to encounter a danger without capture only once, near the book's conclusion.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Canada Reads - winner!
And so, after several days of spirited debate, the winning book is:
The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, HarperCollins Canada.
"Lawrence Hill’s gripping novel features a woman on an amazing journey in the 1700s and 1800s. Although her life is shaped by slavery, Aminata Diallo survives and even transcends adversity."
"Over the course of this epic novel, Aminata is transformed into a storyteller extraordinaire. She spins the astonishing tale of her remarkable travels from Africa to America and back again. Along the way, a sojourn in Nova Scotia illuminates a long-neglected chapter in Canadian history."
To read more, click on the link above.
The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, HarperCollins Canada.
"Lawrence Hill’s gripping novel features a woman on an amazing journey in the 1700s and 1800s. Although her life is shaped by slavery, Aminata Diallo survives and even transcends adversity."
"Over the course of this epic novel, Aminata is transformed into a storyteller extraordinaire. She spins the astonishing tale of her remarkable travels from Africa to America and back again. Along the way, a sojourn in Nova Scotia illuminates a long-neglected chapter in Canadian history."
To read more, click on the link above.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Canada Reads
Those of you who read one of my world-famous blogs, including this one, already know about Canada Reads.
It is an annual contest to choose one book all Canadians (and therefore everyone else) should read.
Five books are chosen as finalists, and a celebrity 'defender' presents his/her chosen book and debates its merits with the other panelists.
All this takes place on CBC Radio One this week - starting March 2!
Cool Stuff! Here's the link to the CBC Radio Canada Reads page. Commentary, video, recaps, info on the books, and so on:
http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/index.html (copy and paste to browser window)
It is an annual contest to choose one book all Canadians (and therefore everyone else) should read.
Five books are chosen as finalists, and a celebrity 'defender' presents his/her chosen book and debates its merits with the other panelists.
All this takes place on CBC Radio One this week - starting March 2!
Cool Stuff! Here's the link to the CBC Radio Canada Reads page. Commentary, video, recaps, info on the books, and so on:
http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/index.html (copy and paste to browser window)
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