Vonnegutova nočna mati
Mati Noč / Kurt Vonnegut
* če že, ocena 10/10.....
- prva izdaja 1961, slovenski prevod 2007
- knjigo mi je posodila Daša, se mi je pa med branjem zdelo,
da cel kup stvari in fraz in for poznam – zdi se mi, da sem jo morala prebrati
v študentskih časih, očitno v angleščini, čeprav se jasno spomnim samo Klavnice
5 in Zajtrk prvakov, in sem mislila, da so vse te fraze od tam.
- kultna knjiga, mirovniška, humanistična, cinična, s slavnimi in pogosto
citiranimi frazami
Uvod avtorja
iz leta 1966 (str 5, 6 in 7), o njegovih osebnih izkušnjah z nacisti in vojno. Ta
Uvod je čudovit, kratek in enostaven in pretresljiv. Knjiga mi je bila zelo
všeč, uvod pa še mnogo mnogo bolj. Bil je vojni ujetnik, vzdrževati se je moral
z lastnim delom v tovarni sirupov, ko je ob koncu vojne doživel bombardiranje
Dresdna, ki ga je preživel v hladilnici pod klavnico “z vrstami in vrstami
otrebljenih kadavrov”. Absolutni mirovnik na ciničen nacin, s toleranco in svetovljan
brez patetike, trpek in pesimist, z nekim zdravim
distanciranim črnim humorjem.
- str 5: Čez nekaj časa je prišla vojna in jaz sem nastopal
in ujeli so me, tako da sem lahko, medtem ko je vojna še trajala, videl nekaj
malega Nemčije.
- str 5: Smo, za kar
se izdajamo, zato moramo paziti, za kaj se izdajamo.
- str 6: In videti sem imel priložnost mnoge nemške patrone
vseh starosti, kakor jih je doletela smrt, ponavadi z dragocenostmi v naročju.
- str 7: Če bi bil rojen v Nemčiji, potem bi najbrž bil
nacist, in tolkel bi Jude in cigane in Poljake in puščal škornje štrleti ven iz
snežnih okopov in se grel s svojo naskrivaj krepostno notranjščino.
- str 7: Ko si mrtev, si mrtev.
- str 7: Ljubi, dokler še lahko. Dobro ti bo delo.
Urednikova opomba:
Vonnegut se v Urednikovi opombi podpiše z lastnim imenom kot urejevalec
protagonistovih zapisov iz zapora po njegovem samomoru – kar genijalno! Kot ameriški
vohun se je protagonist tako dobro integriral v nemški propagandni sistem, da ni nihče
vedel za njegovo vlogo, ostal je znan kot izdajalec celo lastnim staršem do smrti, po vojni se je iz obupa in praznosti
predal Izraelcem in ko se je njegova edina priča bila pripravljena izpostaviti
na sodišču, je naredil samomor. Do takrat pa je pisal spomine, kar je sodišče
podpiralo. V spominih pa v okviru nekajletnega povojnega hiberniranja v New
Yorku o svoji naključni in tragični življenjski poti, v katero je bil pahnjen, čeprav je hotel biti samo pisatelj in zvest Državi dveh, s svojo ljubljeno
Helgo. Polno bizarnih naključij in bizarnih likov, nemočno in pasivno plavanju
v toku in sistemu, med in po vojni.
- str 8: je bil pisatelj, je isto kot reči, da so že zahteve
umetnosti same terjale od njega, da se laže, ne da bi v tem videl kaj hudega.
… laži, povedane z namenom umetniškega učinkovanja, so v višjem smislu kar se
da varljiva oblika resnice.
- str 10: naslov Mati noč izvira iz Fausta: Sem del dela, ki
je bil sprva vse, del teme, ki je rodila luč, ki zdaj prereka Materi Noči njen
davni položaj in mesto.
- str 10: protagonistevo posvetilo: Za Mato Hari. Ta se je
kurbala v imenu spijonaže, jaz pa tudi.
- str 11: Ta knjiga je preposvečena Howardu W. Campbellu ml., človeku, ki je zlu služil preveč odkrito,
dobremu pa preveč naskrivoma, ker je zločin njegovih časov.
- str 46: Edino ena reč je štela. Država dveh. In ko te države
ni bilo več, sem postal to, kar sem danes in kar bom vedno, brezdomovinec.
- str 97: Nikoli ni nehala govoriti, zaradi česar jo je bilo
težko poznati.
- str 110: Sovražiti
Ameriko bi bilo prav tako neumno, kot če bi jo ljubil.
- str 111: Svetovne vojne bi morale ljudi spreminjati, za
kakšno rabo bi sicer sploh bile?
- str 117: Gibanje za moralno remobilizacijo veruje v
absolutno poštenost, absolutno čistost, absolutno nesebičnost in absolutno
ljubezen. – Tem pa res želim vso srečo, kar je je. (primer njegovega
posmehljivega pesimizma in cinizma in iskrenosti)
- str 131: Tole je svet, v katerem je težko biti norček, ko pa je toliko ljudi, ki jim je malo mar
smeha, ki niso zmožni misliti, ki so tako željni verjeti in rezati in sovražiti.
Toliko jih je bilo, ki so mi hoteli
verjeti!
- str 135: Če je po tem življenju še katero, potem bi v
naslednjem zelo rad bil tiste vrste človek, o kakršnem je mogoče iskreno reči:
Odpustite mu, saj ne ve, kaj dela. Zdaj se tega o meni ne da reči.
- str 144: Vseskozi sem lahko živel s tem, kar sem počel. S
pomočjo tistega preprostega in vsesplošnega daru novodobnemu človeštvu –
shizofrenije.
- str 163: pri pujsu se da s pridom uporabiti vse razen
cvileža – a še za moje cviljenje so našli rabo!
- str 177: Zobci v časovnem mehanizmu so preproste, očitne
resnice – zaradi manjkajočih zobcev je lahko komandant Auswitza po zvočnikih
izmenjaval imenitno glasbo in pozive truplonoscem.
- str 182: Omrtvičilo me je dejstvo, da nisem imel absolutno
nobenega razloga, da bi se premaknil v katerokoli smer.
- str 190: incident s histerično žensko v zaklonišču med
bombardiranjem…: njeni trije otroci niso niti trenili z očesom. In tudi nikoli
več ne bojo. Pa tudi jaz ne.
- str 191: Nikogar ni bilo, da bi zaklical: Konc poforčkov –
pridte ven!
- str 196: nobenega razloga, da bi si človek lahko domišljal,
da si sovraštvo z njim deli sam vsemogočni Bog.
- str 200: Hotela se je samo zgražati in čuditi nad zrakom, ki
ga je pred kratkim spodrival.
- str 209: po prejemu pisma svojega vohunskega rekruta: Torej me čaka, da postanem spet svoboden človek, ki hodi, kjer ga je volja. Ob tem obetu
se mi vzdiguje želodec.
**********
Spremna beseda
prevajalca:
- str 212: Tožim neko cigaretno podjetje, ker so mi na zavojčku
obljubljali, da me bo kajenje ubilo, pa sem še kar tukaj.
- str 212: Eden zadnjih romanopiscev, ki so še razumeli roman
kot starodavno umetnost iskanja junakove in pisateljeve avtentičnosti.
- str 214: 1961 navdih od Eichmannove ugrabitve in njegovega
sojenja v Izraelu. Doganje vpeto v nekaj dramatičnih dni, a sega naprej in
nazaj. V Vonnegutovi optiki sredstva
razveljavljajo namen.
- str 215: Vonnegut ni bil cinik, čeprav se je za cinika
izdajal.
**********
Wiki o Vonnegutu:
- November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007
- only marginally successful until Slaughterhouse Five.
- After his death, he was hailed as a morbidly comical commentator on the society in which he lived and as one of the most important contemporary writers.
- Great Depression child. Vonnegut later credited family's African-American cook and housekeeper for the first 10 years of his life, for raising him and giving him values.
- His mother made a suicide, possible factors include the family's loss of wealth and status, Vonnegut's forthcoming deployment overseas, and her own lack of success as a writer.
- "It just turned out that I could write better than a lot of other people", Vonnegut observed. "Each person has something he can do easily and can't imagine why everybody else has so much trouble doing it."
- not a good student at all
- he was awarded a Purple Heart about which he remarked "I myself was awarded my country's second-lowest decoration, a Purple Heart for frost-bite."
- Vonnegut gained the repute of a science fiction writer, a genre held in disdain by writers at that time. He defended the genre, and deplored a perceived sentiment that "no one can simultaneously be a respectable writer and understand how a refrigerator works."
-had 3 children and adopted 3 orphaned nephews of his, with his second wife adopted another child
- Mother Night received little attention at the time of its publication: impersonators to get carried away by their impersonations, to become what they impersonate and therefore to live in a world of illusion
- Vonnegut's personal life was disintegrating. His wife Jane had embraced Christianity, which was contrary to Vonnegut's atheistic beliefs
- he was deeply affected when his son suffered a mental breakdown in 1972, which exacerbated Vonnegut's chronic depression
- His opinion of human nature was low, and that low opinion applied to his heroes and his villains alike — he was endlessly disappointed in humanity and in himself, and he expressed that disappointment in a mixture of tar-black humor and deep despair. He could easily have become a crank, but he was too smart; he could have become a cynic, but there was something tender in his nature that he could never quite suppress
- His most prominent novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, has been objected to or removed at various institutions in at least 18 instances.
- Vonnegut had not intended to publish again, but his anger against the George W. Bush administration led him to write A Man Without a Country.
- he called himself a "Christ-loving atheist". However, he was keen to stress that he was not a Christian. Vonnegut had a deep dislike for certain aspects of Christianity, often reminding his readers of the bloody history of the Crusades and other religion-inspired violence.
- he thought socialism could provide a valuable substitute for what he saw as social Darwinism
- Vonnegut called George Orwell his favorite writer, and admitted that he tried to emulate Orwell. "I like his concern for the poor, I like his socialism, I like his simplicity". Early on in his career, Vonnegut decided to model his style after Henry David Thoreau, who wrote as if from the perspective of a child, allowing Thoreau's works to be more widely comprehensible. Using a youthful narrative voice allowed Vonnegut to deliver concepts in a modest and straightforward way.
- Vonnegut was not a "black humorist", but a "frustrated idealist" who used "comic parables" to teach the reader absurd, bitter or hopeless truths, with his grim witticisms serving to make the reader laugh rather than cry.
- Several key social themes recur in Vonnegut's works, such as wealth, the lack of it, and its unequal distribution among a society.
- When one of Vonnegut's characters, Kilgore Trout, finds the question "What is the purpose of life?" written in a bathroom, his response is, "To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool."
- The meaning of life: "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."
**********
Wiki o Vonnegutu:
- November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007
- only marginally successful until Slaughterhouse Five.
- After his death, he was hailed as a morbidly comical commentator on the society in which he lived and as one of the most important contemporary writers.
- Great Depression child. Vonnegut later credited family's African-American cook and housekeeper for the first 10 years of his life, for raising him and giving him values.
- His mother made a suicide, possible factors include the family's loss of wealth and status, Vonnegut's forthcoming deployment overseas, and her own lack of success as a writer.
- "It just turned out that I could write better than a lot of other people", Vonnegut observed. "Each person has something he can do easily and can't imagine why everybody else has so much trouble doing it."
- not a good student at all
- he was awarded a Purple Heart about which he remarked "I myself was awarded my country's second-lowest decoration, a Purple Heart for frost-bite."
- Vonnegut gained the repute of a science fiction writer, a genre held in disdain by writers at that time. He defended the genre, and deplored a perceived sentiment that "no one can simultaneously be a respectable writer and understand how a refrigerator works."
-had 3 children and adopted 3 orphaned nephews of his, with his second wife adopted another child
- Mother Night received little attention at the time of its publication: impersonators to get carried away by their impersonations, to become what they impersonate and therefore to live in a world of illusion
- Vonnegut's personal life was disintegrating. His wife Jane had embraced Christianity, which was contrary to Vonnegut's atheistic beliefs
- he was deeply affected when his son suffered a mental breakdown in 1972, which exacerbated Vonnegut's chronic depression
- His opinion of human nature was low, and that low opinion applied to his heroes and his villains alike — he was endlessly disappointed in humanity and in himself, and he expressed that disappointment in a mixture of tar-black humor and deep despair. He could easily have become a crank, but he was too smart; he could have become a cynic, but there was something tender in his nature that he could never quite suppress
- His most prominent novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, has been objected to or removed at various institutions in at least 18 instances.
- Vonnegut had not intended to publish again, but his anger against the George W. Bush administration led him to write A Man Without a Country.
- he called himself a "Christ-loving atheist". However, he was keen to stress that he was not a Christian. Vonnegut had a deep dislike for certain aspects of Christianity, often reminding his readers of the bloody history of the Crusades and other religion-inspired violence.
- he thought socialism could provide a valuable substitute for what he saw as social Darwinism
- Vonnegut called George Orwell his favorite writer, and admitted that he tried to emulate Orwell. "I like his concern for the poor, I like his socialism, I like his simplicity". Early on in his career, Vonnegut decided to model his style after Henry David Thoreau, who wrote as if from the perspective of a child, allowing Thoreau's works to be more widely comprehensible. Using a youthful narrative voice allowed Vonnegut to deliver concepts in a modest and straightforward way.
- Vonnegut was not a "black humorist", but a "frustrated idealist" who used "comic parables" to teach the reader absurd, bitter or hopeless truths, with his grim witticisms serving to make the reader laugh rather than cry.
- Several key social themes recur in Vonnegut's works, such as wealth, the lack of it, and its unequal distribution among a society.
- When one of Vonnegut's characters, Kilgore Trout, finds the question "What is the purpose of life?" written in a bathroom, his response is, "To be the eyes and ears and conscience of the Creator of the Universe, you fool."
- The meaning of life: "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."
Mati Noč / Kurt Vonnegut; Naslov izvirnika: Mother Night, 1961, prevod: Branko Gradišnik; Založba: Sanje, 2007; ISBN: 978-961-6653-15-2; 215 strani.
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