I must confess that my interview with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is something I still struggle to understand.
When I found out about the chance to talk with him before his campus lecture Friday, I was simultaneously excited and perplexed.
It's a heavy burden. What was I to ask him? How could I avoid appearing as a naãve college reporter? I mean, it's Kurt Vonnegut - a world-renowned author, veteran and seriously funny man.
His writings rest on a knife-edge of fierce humor and inauspicious realism. Although easy to digest and seemingly frivolous, his best work - such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle" - is that of a scrupulous moralist. Satire is Vonnegut's tool of choice and with it he undresses humanity's bulging flaws and contradictions with an almost painful comedy.
What resulted from our interview, however, is an odd mix of awkward humor. It wasn't a successful interview, but I guess it was one of those things famous people have a license to do. During the 10 minutes we talked, he shared his thoughts on teachers, his writings and revenge.
Daily Lobo: Have you been to New Mexico before?
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Kurt Vonnegut: Yes, I went to a boy's camp near Thoreau. It's called Prairie Creek. It's still going.
DL: What profession do you most admire?
KV: The noblest profession in a democracy is a teacher.
DL: Why is that?
KV: Because they shape their citizens and are wonderfully influential also. The great ones are unselfish.
DL: Do you consider yourself a teacher?
KV: I have. I've taught at City College in New York, I've taught at the University of Iowa, I've taught at Harvard and I taught at Smith College this past year.
DL: What is your favorite book that you've written?
KV: The flagship of my fleet - it's not a very large fleet, but anyway - is "Cat's Cradle."
DL: That's a very good book. Why?
KV: I don't know. I'm proudest of it. It turned out best.
DL: Is there a least favorite book?
KV: In one of my books - a collection of essays - I graded all of my books. I forget which ones I flunked.
DL: Well, is there any one main idea or thought that you've been trying to convey throughout your body of work?
KV: No. There's no sound byte to put on my tombstone. Samuel Goldwyn said, 'If you have a message, send a telegram.' No, I'm not selling anything. What I'm trying to do is write books that people enjoy reading, that's all.
DL: I wasn't suggesting selling anything. But there's no type of philosophy or statement about humanity?
KV: Well, any major philosophy anybody has is not going to be original. What concerns me right now is how reputable revenge is. I blame my profession for that because it's the easiest story to write. You know, why is this character so motivated? Well, some son of a bitch shot my brother in the back in Dodge City. And off the story goes. But the trouble now is that so many people think it's mandatory to exact revenge. What kind of person would stand for that without evening the score? So people seeking revenge makes the world a much more dangerous place. Revenge is a bad idea - very destructive. It's a sick idea. It's just an easy story to tell.
DL: Then is that only reason why authors come back to the idea of revenge?
KV: I don't know if I've written a revenge story, it's just the easiest story to write. It's the cowboy story. There's no question about how this thing is going to end, but there are people who believe that if someone insults you, you must square the score. And it's very destructive with all of these people trying to settle scores. It just makes the world a worse place to live in.
DL: On that note, how influential do you think literature in general is in either promoting or debunking that idea?
KV: It's huge. There are millions of books and many of them celebrate revenge. I just wish that Moses . coming back from Mount Sinai, with instructions from God that had this 'let's cut down on the murder, let's cut down on the adultery, let's cut down on the suffering - there's trouble already' - I wish he would have also said 'let's cut down on the revenge.'
DL: Then do artists, or writers in general, have a social responsibility to curtail these ideas?
KV: No, it's every sort of person . (inaudible rumbling) . You know what? I don't think this is going very well.
DL: You don't think this is going very well?
KV: No. Bye.
And he hung up. I sat in my chair, brow furrowed, groping for some sort of explanation.
After some coaxing, I reluctantly called him back. He said I had not offended him, calmly adding that we didn't get along - that we didn't have any spark and that my interview was shapeless. Before we hung up, he said I was not to take this personally. And I don't.
Perhaps it was my apparent nervousness and lack of professionalism. Perhaps he was tired of talking about himself or had to use the bathroom. I don't know.
Now I wonder what shape his lecture will take. It won't be without his trademark wit and humor. Maybe I'll introduce myself as the kid who doesn't know how to interview. Maybe I've talked to him enough already.
