Kurt Vonnegut isn't really known as an author of science fiction, but his spin on the genre, with all due respect to the great Douglas Adams, is one of the funniest I've ever come across. I miss satire from popular forms of media. On my worst days, it seems we've all lost our sense of humor and an ability to laugh at ourselves. Vonnegut was fantastic for me during a time when laughter helped me get through my days.
Here's a shot I took of Mr. Vonnegut during a reading in the late 80's at Worcester Polytechnical Institute in Massachusetts. This is a first-class instituion that develops future engineers and scientists, and I think Mr. Vonnegut enjoyed reading and speaking to his audience there that night. I remember I convinced my father, who'd never heard of Vonnegut, to join me, and by the end of the night my Dad was less concerned that his son had lost his mind and he also thought that Kurt Vonnegut was, as he put it, "like a modern version of Mark Twain."
For younger generations, the length of the Cold War (roughly 75 years) and the amount of fear along with the amount of missiles the USA and the USSR were pointing at each other, cannot be stressed enough when it comes to putting our current world geo-political situation into perspective. These days, people tell me things have never been worse. I tend to politely disagree with them, adding that there's a lot more propaganda and misinformation out there that we simple folk with our hand-held oracles have access to.
In the way that EA Poe and AC Doyle started detective fiction, it can be said that along with HG Wells that ER Burroughs helped to start the fad for science fiction.
Last but not least, I want to mention Robert A. Heinlein, who edited the above anthology, but for me is one of the best of the Cold War era science fiction novelists. There are many other greats, of course, from that period, but I'm only sharing pulp covers I've uncovered from my trove. I could easily add a dozen or more other champions of the genre.
No comments:
Post a Comment