Kurt Vonnegut’s (1922-2007) destiny was not to die on February 13. He did not do it as a prisoner of war during the bombing of Dresden nor after taking a cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills almost four decades later as a renowned writer. To his friend Walter Miller would describe his time in the hospital as “the shrink for short stays”, aware that he had just staged a suicide attempt. A confession that he made by letter, like many others throughout his life.
Dan Wakefield, a friend and classmate of the writer at the Shortridge Institute, compiled a large part of the letters that the author of Cat’s Cradle wrote throughout his life, from the 40s until shortly before his death, and published the book Kurt Vonnegut: Cartas, which arrives for the first time in Spanish-language bookstores by Ediciones B.
“It’s like listening to Vonnegut speak since he shows his most intimate side on many aspects, such as writing, his family life or his own depressions, but always with that humor that characterizes him so much,” says Berta Noy, literary director, from the editorial. of non-fiction, which he recommends reading in parallel to his novels, since it “complements his literary work and allows us to understand where many of his writings come from.”
The volume begins with the first letter that Vonnegut wrote to his family after he was released as a prisoner of war. An experience that, together with the suicide of his mother, would deeply mark his work and years later would inspire one of his most recognized works, Matadero Cinco.
“I have been told that you would most likely never be given any information other than the fact that I was missing in action. That leaves me with a lot of things to explain to you. In short: I became a prisoner of war on December 19, 1944. Seven fanatical Panzer divisions struck us and cut us off from Hodges’ First Army.(…) On February 14, the Americans arrived, followed by the RAF. Their joint effort killed 250,000 people in twenty-four hours and destroyed the whole of Dresden, possibly the most beautiful city in the world. But not me. ”, He wrote in May 1945 from“ a Red Cross club in the Le Havre repatriation camp ”.
Love, and the end of it, is also very present in the author’s life. Proof of this are the many letters that he exchanges with his wife Jane Cox both during and after his marriage. “Dear Jane. I wish you a happy birthday with the confidence that, regardless of American politics, it will truly be a happy birthday for you. It has cost you an incredible amount of pain, but you have earned having a new life and being a new Jane, ”the writer congratulated her after separating from her. Noy, for his part, points out that “the esteem that she has for him is evident. She was the only one who blindly trusted him when no one else did. Even if that meant that she did not bring too much money into the house ”.
In addition to these more personal letters, the reader can find throughout its 502 pages some writings full of curiosities, such as the burning in an oven of several copies of Slaughterhouse Five by the Drake school board, in Dakota del Norte, or the request to Jack Nicholson to star in the Breakfast of Champions movie. “Only you could project the utterly beautiful, 100-percent American-roots, charismatic insanity that afflicts this man.” The role ended up taking Bruce Willis.
“If these letters show one thing, it is that Vonnegut was an intelligent man and thirsty to talk, meet and exchange experiences with his contemporaries. He did not hesitate to denounce any unfair situation that he came across and, above all, he defended humanity, although on occasions he was disenchanted with it ”, concludes Noy.
