"Fiction is melody and journalism, new or old, is noise"
Kurt Vonnegut
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons
I love Vonnegut's novels, I figured I should give his non-fiction a try. This collection was wonderful. There were several themes that were repeated through out all of them, and the prose was just as wonderful as in his novels. It read just like his novels, the voice was the same. I thought this was a wonderful collection, and just like all of the other Vonnegut I have read, it is just as relevant now as it was when it was originally published.
The title was explained in the prologue, and I think these are words that should be used more in real life. "A wampeter is an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve. The Holy Grail would be a case in point. Foma are harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls. An example: 'Prosperity is just around the corner.' A granfallon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings." These words definitely cover the scope of the collection.
I think some of my favorite pieces were ones where he talks about the reasons we have certain prejudices, and the ungracious untruths that are told to the youth. We have a growing distrust of the police because they tried to enforce pointless laws during prohibition and we distrust the military because we couldn't believe in the illusion of the 'innocent soldier boy' after Vietnam. The youth is angry because there's no happy illusion of a better future, and bitter because we are expected to fix the problems when we don't owe the world anything. The world doesn't owe anything to us.
These were wonderful. I especially liked his speeches. I wish that speeches like those were given at my graduation instead of the political rhetoric that has been presented in recent years. I wish there was more thought towards morality instead of votes. From what I've heard a lot of people my age feel the same. I highly recommend this collection.
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