Vonnegut Made Me Believe that Reading was Cool, Still Does.

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One of my favorite authors is Kurt Vonnegut. The first book of his I read was Mother Night when I was 16 years of age. It is a spy novel set in Nazi Germany. It has a very introspective twist when the main character becomes a spy for the Allies, but becomes so entrenched in his role as a Nazi radio propagandist that he forgets which side he is on. I remember so badly anticipating what was going to happen next that I would turn the page before I was done reading it and I would have to turn back to the previous page.
The novel that really made me love his work was the classic Slaughterhouse-five. This book said things to me that I was feeling and had no idea could be articulated. It was also set during WWII, for the most part. There was time travel, aliens, and war, Oh My!
His novels are known for having some "far out" concepts, but the meat of his writing is very personal. He lived through the bombing of Dresden and experienced battle as a soldier in WWII. He has seen some devastating events caused by humans, and he brings those experiences to life in his writing. He also relates to his audience through his expression of some of the most common and mundane experiences. His style is varied and eclectic. However, it is also very straight forward, even with all the satire and irony. If you are ever in the mood for something a little strange or different, but you also want to be shocked and awed, in good and bad ways, Vonnegut can deliver. It is his ability to keep his stories fresh while expressing the most common feelings that people share that keeps me reading more of his work.

Here are some links to samples of his books you can read online. Some pages are omitted, but there is enough to find out if his writing is your cup of tea.
Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut
Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut

The Blues

I love blues music. I grew up around it, I have always played it, at times I've even lived it. Blues music is universal, yet personal to the individual. We've all had hard times, but the blues came from a people that were uniquely hardened by the circumstances of their time. Slaver, oppression, racism, poverty, and the resilience of a people has created a beautiful art form. I thought about this post from reading Langston Hughes. He injects the blues into his poetry, and if it hasn't been done already, one could create a blues song from some of them. Being a long time fan of the blues I want to share some of Hughes' poetry along with some lyrics from traditional blues music. Both of these are chilling examples of creative expression.

Song for a Dark Girl

by Langston Hughes

Way down south in Dixie
—(Break the heart of me)
They hung my dark young lover
—To a cross roads tree.

Way Down South in Dixie
—(Bruised body high in air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
—What was the use of prayer.

Way Down South in Dixie
—(Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
—On a gnarled and naked tree.

The song "Black Girl" also known as "In the Pines" and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" is a traditional folk, or blues, song of which the author is unknown. This is the earliest version of the lyrics known to have been in print. These words have been passed on from generation to generation.

"Black girl, black girl, don't lie to me

Where did you stay last night?
I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines
And shivered when the cold wind blows"

Here is Leadbelly's, one of my favorite performers, version of the traditional song. The blues often sounds rough and imperfect. This embodies the sentiment of the blues. It is the moment of expression and inspiration that is the focus of the blues. A great blues musician of the Indianapolis area, "Screamin' Jimmy," once told me that I had to "feel the blues to play the blues." When it is there you can here it, and it doesn't sound like anything else.

Here are some additional links to blues songs. Feel free to post suggestions or links in the comments of some blues music, or any music that you feel uses literary expression, that you enjoy.

Leadbelly - The Gallows Pole

Howlin Wolf - Spoon Full

Abner Jay - My Middle Name is the Blues

Women in Literature During Slavery: A Bridge Between the Privileged and the Oppressed

There a couple of stories written about slavery by white women, namely Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stowe. I think both of these writers did a tremendous job to bring various perspectives on slavery to their audience. It was a very important task to do what they had done, and the world was better for having their literature exposed to the masses.



Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. It was a massive success around the world, and it featured characters from various walks of life. She spotlighted the point of view of slaves, slave owners, women men, and children. Some of them were politicians, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, fugitives, and so on. Stowe showed what it may have been like to be a slave, to be a slave owner, to be a Northerner with seemingly no stake in the matter, and so on. She provided all sorts of ways to look at slavery, but she sent the message that slavery was not acceptable. She made her point in a very persuasive and open minded way. I think this is why her book was so popular.



Louisa May Alcott was, I think, more combative and controversial on her take of slavery. Her short story "My Contraband" was written during the Civil War, and the story is as dreary and torn as one might imagine the Civil War to be. Alcott creates a love story between a biracial, or black as some would consider anyone of color, man and a white woman. This story is heated and tense with a thick and bloody history between characters. Alcott takes a stronger stance on race relations in general. Not only does she express detest for slavery, but she dares the reader to define love beyond the concept of race. It is a powerful story that is uncomfortable for some even today, let alone during the Civil War. I can only imagine how brave she must have been to write such an idea into a story, or the reaction of her readers.

Both  of these women did not know what it was like to be a slave, but women of that time did know something about oppression, and these two women used that to the best of their unique abilities to make a great contribution to society.

Edgar Allen Poe: Love and Death

Edgar Allen Poe is known for his mysteriously dark writing. Every element of his writing, tone, plot, imagery, etc., was very dark and brooding. 

His poem titled "Annabel Lee" is no exception. However, love is the focus of the poem. Poe stuck to the darkness he was known for, but used only to express deeply felt love. I enjoy this poem because it shows a different side of Poe. There is still the hint of menace, but love demands attention in this poem, just as the narrator expresses.

Annabel Lee

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

It was many and many a year ago,

   In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

   By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

   I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

   Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

   My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

   And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

   In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

   Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

   In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—

   Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

   Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

   In her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

The New World Literature

The first story that I read from the American literature anthology was "The Iroquois Creation Story." It is different in some ways, but bears some similarities to the story of creation according to Christianity as well. I find it very interesting, and it says a lot about what was important to the Iroquois. There is the element of good versus evil, but nature is the main theme.



"The good mind continued the works of creation, and he formed numerous creeks and rivers on the Great Island, and then created numerous species of animals of the smallest and the greatest, to inhabit the forests, and fishes of all kinds to inhabit the waters. When he had made the universe he was in doubt respecting some being to possess the Great Island; and he formed two images of the dust of the ground in his own likeness, male and female, and by his breathing into their nostrils he gave them the living souls, and named them Ea-gwe-howe, i.e., a real people; and he gave the Great Island all the animals of game for their maintenance and he appointed thunder to water the earth by frequent rains, agreeable of the nature of the system; after this the Island became fruitful and vegetation afforded the animals subsistence."

Do you know any other Native American stories or literature?

Femmes de la Littérature

I am going from the rhetoric of essays to the aesthetic of poetry with this post. However, don't be fooled by the pretty colors in poetry. Once your pulled in by the flowery language of a poem and you lean in for a smell of the nectar therein, BAM! It hits you like a brick wall. The author had something important to say and it makes you think. Such is poetry, not all "roses are red, violets are blue."

I want to focus on not just any poet, but the great Emily Dickinson. The reason is that she created beautiful poems with all the flowery language, but she usually had a point to make. She was also very unique, and is considered one of the greats, not just for a lady. That is what I want to focus on. One of the greatest poets ever felt very much restrained as a woman in society, and she expressed that in her poetry.



What are some of your favorite pieces of literature by women? They don't have to be poetry or refer to a specific topic.

Rearrange a “Wife’s” affection!

1737

Rearrange a “Wife’s” affection!
When they dislocate my Brain!
Amputate my freckled Bosom!
Make me bearded like a man!

Blush, my spirit, in thy Fastness—
Blush, my unacknowledged clay—
Seven years of troth have taught thee
More than Wifehood every may!

Love that never leaped its socket—
Trust entrenched in narrow pain—
Constancy thro’ fire—awarded—
Anguish—bare of anodyne!

Burden—borne so far triumphant—
None suspect me of the crown,
For I wear the “Thorns” till Sunset—
Then—my Diadem put on.

Big my Secret but it’s bandaged—
It will never get away
Till the Day its Weary Keeper
Leads it through the Grave to thee.

http://hellopoetry.com/poem/3459/rearrange-a-wifes-affection/

Literature for the Soul

I would like to focus my first blog on African American literature. It is something that has had an impact me since I was young. My mother brought a book home from an antique store. She told me to, "Check it out." When I did, I discovered that it was very old, I am not sure of the exact year, but I know that it was a few years after the end of the Civil War. It claimed to be the first book of collected freed slave literature. It contained poems, letters, short stories, and personal accounts of daily life as a slave or the newly freed slave. It had a profound effect on me. The authors had very little ability in writing. They wrote how they spoke. I knew this was from a lack of education that was imposed on them even to the point that it was illegal for them to be taught to read. However they gave very detailed and vivid description and expression of their experiences. They described the terror and sadness of life as a slave, and expressed the jubilation of newly found freedom. That experience fueled my interest in the literature of African Americans throughout that time. I wish I cite the book for you, but it has been lost for a long time.

What piece of African American literature has inspired you?

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Du Bois



W.E.B. Du Bois lived from 1868 to 1963. He grew up in the Northeast, and received a Ph.D. in history in 1895. The Souls of Black Folk, written in 1903 was a rhetorical essay aimed to bring light to the state of inequality that plagued the African American at that time. The arguments that he made resonate with me. I have tried to articulate the same ideas to folks that do not believe that racism exists. The arguments that he rebutted are still ideas that people still hold. It is hard to imagine that after all of the progress that we have made many are still in the dark ages of the Civil War period. If you are thinking, "Yawn, an essay?" then you are mistaken. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote eloquently, compellingly, and fervently on the subject. He also included excerpts from songs that were passed down from generation to generation of African Americans. Here are couple of excerpts from the book. Italics indicate a musical excerpt. Du Bois even included musical notation for the songs.

I. Of Our Spiritual Strivings
O water, voice of my heart, crying in the sand,
All night long crying with a mournful cry,
As I lie and listen, and cannot understand
the Voice of my heart in my side or the voice of the sea,
O water, crying for rest, is it I, it I?

Unresting water, there shall never be rest
Till the last moon droop and the last tide fail,
and the fire of the end begin to burn in the west;
and the heart shall be weary and wonder and cry like the sea,
All life long crying without avail,
As the water all night long is crying to e.

Arthur Symons

Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville, or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word (1717)

One never feels his two-ness, - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in  one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder (1718).

Du Bois, W.E.B, The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company. 2013. 1717-1731. Print.