Cat’s Cradle

April 29th, 2007

Forget dog-eared: my copy of Cat’s Cradle is a torn-up mess. Still, I took Verylin Klinkenborg’s advice (mentioned earlier) and revisited the book for the first time in decades. It turns out Klinkenborg’s spot on: Vonnegut’s work is so rich with wit and truth, it deserves to be read outside of a dorm room, by people who think they already know. Somehow, he managed to combine willful naiveté, insistence on kindness, and a freewheeling imagination with a no-illusions view of history and human stupidity, all without having the resulting paradox implode on contact. No wonder he is routinely compared to Mark Twain.

Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 103, A Medical Opinion on the Effects of a Writers’ Strike:

Young Castle called me “Scoop.” “Good morning, Scoop. What’s new in the word game?”
“I might ask the same of you,” I replied.
“I’m thinking of calling a general strike of all writers until manking finally comes to its senses. Would you support it?”
“Do writers have a right to strike? That would be like the police or the firemen walking out.”
“Or the college professors.”
“Or the college professors,” I agreed. I shook my head. “No, I don’t think my conscience would let me support a strike like that. When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed.”
“I just can’t help thinking what a real shaking up it would give people if, all of a sudden, there were no new books, new plays, new histories, new poems…”
“And how proud would you be when people started dying like flies?” I demanded.
“They’d die more like mad dogs, I think–snarling and snapping at each other and biting their own tails.”
I turned to Castle the elder. “Sir, how does a man die when he’s deprived of the consolations of literature?”
“In one of two ways,” he said, “petrescence of the heart or atrophy of the nervous system.”
“Neither one very pleasant, I expect,” I suggested.
“No,” said Castle the elder. “For the love of God, both of you, please keep writing!”

Cat’s Cradle. Kurt Vonnegut, 1963. *****

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2 Responses to “Cat’s Cradle”

  1. Jürgen Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 5:06 pm

    I was under the mistaken impression that Jerry Garcia owned the film rights to Cat’s Cradle, but a little research showed that to be wrong. Garcia owned Sirens of Titan, and the Grateful Dead’s publishing company was named Ice-9.

    Question: What other works are being considered for film production? Have the film rights to all works been sold? If not, what’s available and who do I talk to?
    KtVonnegut: You can talk to me! I’ve never made much money as a writer, so when anyone offered me money, I took it. I sold the rights to CAT’S CRADLE outright and for all eternity to Hilly Elkins, who has never done anything with it and never will and won’t sell it back. CAT’S CRADLE now lies at a crossroads with a stake through its heart. Jerry Garcia had the rights to SIRENS OF TITAN for many years. When he died, we bought the rights back from his estate. PLAYER PIANO was bought outright by Ed Pressman quite a while ago. We’ve been talking to him, asking him to do something with it or let us have it back. (Source)

  2. jhoffman Says:
    April 30th, 2007 at 10:05 am

    1 - That there copy of Cat’s Cradle got a little more dog-eared by yours truly. I’m pretty sure that’s the copy you lent me.

    2 - For a time, in the late 80s, HBO had a series called “Vonnegut’s Monkey House” where each week would be a filmed version of another of his short stories from “Welcome to the Monkey House.” The only one I remembered was the one where they were forced to play a game of giant chess (ie the pieces were people) to the death. Also — there is a movie out there somewhere of Harrison Bergeron, but I’ve never seen it. The film of Slaughterhouse 5 is actually pretty good, considering how much of an “unfilmable book” that book is.

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