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jazzy_daveKurt Vonnegut "The Sirens Of Titan" (Gollancz SF Masterworks)
The Sirens of Titan blew me away. The plot is constantly twisting and turning and Vonnegut’s writing style is simply amazing. Vonnegut utilizes many different writing techniques from symbolism, metaphors, similes, repetition, and foreshadowing. I was constantly motivated to keep on reading because I never knew what exactly was going to happen next. At times one of the characters, Winston Niles Rumfoord who could travel through time and see the future, would give some insight on what was to happen or to come, however the details of how it happened or if it was true was not given and I had to keep reading to find out.
Vonnegut had an amazing ability to use metaphors and similes to help describe the environment in which the main characters were surrounded by. This was essential because without vivid details the reader would not be able to connect with the characters and understand the situations in which they were placed. The main character, Malachi Constant also known as Unk and the Space Wanderer, travels from Earth, which most readers are familiar with, to Mars and Titan of which I was not familiar with. Through Vonnegut’s vivid details I was able to see the surroundings perfectly. Another major writing technique that Vonnegut used was symbolism. Malachi Constant’s name throughout the book was a symbol itself and in my opinion the most important one. Vonnegut used Constant to mock society and how it was obsessed with material wealth. In the beginning when Malachi Constant is referred to as Constant he exemplifies how society is corrupted by material wealth. Then when Constant is referred to as Unk, Constant exemplifies how material wealth is not a necessity of life or society and that one can lead a productive life without material wealth. However I found that in the beginning when Malachi Constant was referred to as Constant and then when he was referred to as Unk he exemplified two different extremes. Then when Constant was referred to as the Space Wanderer he was the middle and a perfect balance of those two extremes, however one thing was still missing. That final missing piece came when Constant was sent off to the moon Titan with his son, Chrono, and mother of his son Beatrice who was also known as Bee.
The final missing piece for Constant was love. At the end of the book Constant finally gained the loved of Beatrice and was once again referred to as Malachi Constant. I believe that this symbolizes how Constant came full circle and in the end he learned and found what was really important, and thus the true meaning of life, in Vonnegut’s opinion.
What really impresses here is the early assertion of Vonnegut's trademark wit. He is really the 20th century Mark Twain, and seems to spear the same idiocy in our culture that Twain did in his day. This is book #2 in my quest to read the whole of Vonnegut's work within a year of his death.
Vonnegut sends up the whims of capitalism with the main character Malachi Constant, the richest man in the world. Constant is a playboy/bon vivant who, for reasons to be revealed, was born with the luck to maintain his lifestyle with very little effort on his part. At the beginning of the novel, he is summoned to the mansion of Winston Niles Rumfoord, the first man to fly a private rocket to Mars. Rumfoord is also, or so it’s understood, one of the last—having unwittingly flown into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, which effectively spread his (and his dog’s) existence throughout sort of a wormhole between the Sun and Betelgeuse. (Now you can start to imagine the types of conversations Garcia and Davis must have had.)
When Earth happens to transect the glitch, once every 59 days, Rumfoord and his dog materialize at the mansion for a short period of time where he alienates his wife, predicts the future (since he happens to actually be everywhere and when), and generally makes everyone uncomfortable. Vonnegut’s description of the first meeting of the two men is a good example of his wonderful use of language in this novel: “Winston Niles Rumfoord’s smile and handshake dismantled Constant’s high opinion of himself as efficiently as carnival roustabouts might dismantle a Ferris wheel.”
Granted, this all takes place within the first 20 pages or so. Rumfoord (and I couldn’t stop substituting Rumsfeld, especially when we begin to find out how his motives, while being altruistic from his viewpoint, are seriously fucked up) goes on to tell Constant that he will end up traveling to Mars, Mercury, Titan, and end up having a son with Mrs. Rumfoord. Awkward.
Vonnegut’s savaging of organized religion at the back end of this novel counterbalances his having peeled back the curtain hiding the machinations of the free market in the front. Along the way, Mars attacks, a shipwrecked alien manipulates all of human history in an attempt to get a part,
I enjoyed The Sirens of Titan very much. He was able to criticize the flaws of human society and attempt to answer questions deemed unanswerable. What makes him so great is the style in which he did it. He utilized many different writing techniques; he had amazing syntax and diction which molded the surroundings into perfect form for the reader.
The Sirens of Titan blew me away. The plot is constantly twisting and turning and Vonnegut’s writing style is simply amazing. Vonnegut utilizes many different writing techniques from symbolism, metaphors, similes, repetition, and foreshadowing. I was constantly motivated to keep on reading because I never knew what exactly was going to happen next. At times one of the characters, Winston Niles Rumfoord who could travel through time and see the future, would give some insight on what was to happen or to come, however the details of how it happened or if it was true was not given and I had to keep reading to find out.
Vonnegut had an amazing ability to use metaphors and similes to help describe the environment in which the main characters were surrounded by. This was essential because without vivid details the reader would not be able to connect with the characters and understand the situations in which they were placed. The main character, Malachi Constant also known as Unk and the Space Wanderer, travels from Earth, which most readers are familiar with, to Mars and Titan of which I was not familiar with. Through Vonnegut’s vivid details I was able to see the surroundings perfectly. Another major writing technique that Vonnegut used was symbolism. Malachi Constant’s name throughout the book was a symbol itself and in my opinion the most important one. Vonnegut used Constant to mock society and how it was obsessed with material wealth. In the beginning when Malachi Constant is referred to as Constant he exemplifies how society is corrupted by material wealth. Then when Constant is referred to as Unk, Constant exemplifies how material wealth is not a necessity of life or society and that one can lead a productive life without material wealth. However I found that in the beginning when Malachi Constant was referred to as Constant and then when he was referred to as Unk he exemplified two different extremes. Then when Constant was referred to as the Space Wanderer he was the middle and a perfect balance of those two extremes, however one thing was still missing. That final missing piece came when Constant was sent off to the moon Titan with his son, Chrono, and mother of his son Beatrice who was also known as Bee.
The final missing piece for Constant was love. At the end of the book Constant finally gained the loved of Beatrice and was once again referred to as Malachi Constant. I believe that this symbolizes how Constant came full circle and in the end he learned and found what was really important, and thus the true meaning of life, in Vonnegut’s opinion.
What really impresses here is the early assertion of Vonnegut's trademark wit. He is really the 20th century Mark Twain, and seems to spear the same idiocy in our culture that Twain did in his day. This is book #2 in my quest to read the whole of Vonnegut's work within a year of his death.
Vonnegut sends up the whims of capitalism with the main character Malachi Constant, the richest man in the world. Constant is a playboy/bon vivant who, for reasons to be revealed, was born with the luck to maintain his lifestyle with very little effort on his part. At the beginning of the novel, he is summoned to the mansion of Winston Niles Rumfoord, the first man to fly a private rocket to Mars. Rumfoord is also, or so it’s understood, one of the last—having unwittingly flown into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, which effectively spread his (and his dog’s) existence throughout sort of a wormhole between the Sun and Betelgeuse. (Now you can start to imagine the types of conversations Garcia and Davis must have had.)
When Earth happens to transect the glitch, once every 59 days, Rumfoord and his dog materialize at the mansion for a short period of time where he alienates his wife, predicts the future (since he happens to actually be everywhere and when), and generally makes everyone uncomfortable. Vonnegut’s description of the first meeting of the two men is a good example of his wonderful use of language in this novel: “Winston Niles Rumfoord’s smile and handshake dismantled Constant’s high opinion of himself as efficiently as carnival roustabouts might dismantle a Ferris wheel.”
Granted, this all takes place within the first 20 pages or so. Rumfoord (and I couldn’t stop substituting Rumsfeld, especially when we begin to find out how his motives, while being altruistic from his viewpoint, are seriously fucked up) goes on to tell Constant that he will end up traveling to Mars, Mercury, Titan, and end up having a son with Mrs. Rumfoord. Awkward.
Vonnegut’s savaging of organized religion at the back end of this novel counterbalances his having peeled back the curtain hiding the machinations of the free market in the front. Along the way, Mars attacks, a shipwrecked alien manipulates all of human history in an attempt to get a part,
I enjoyed The Sirens of Titan very much. He was able to criticize the flaws of human society and attempt to answer questions deemed unanswerable. What makes him so great is the style in which he did it. He utilized many different writing techniques; he had amazing syntax and diction which molded the surroundings into perfect form for the reader.
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