Kurt Vonnegut

DEDICATION: Episode EF10 is dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut, a writer whose ingenuity comes from the purposefully averageness of his perspective. Satirical irony dominates his work, managing to make people laugh out loud and still see the light at the end of some very dark tunnels in the themes of his work.

Kurt Vonnegut quickly emerged as a new star in the world of literature with novels like Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan and Cat’s Cradle. Nevertheless, both before and after fame, Vonnegut struggled with the hardships of a literary writer.

There’s a belief that people with a unique ‘funny bone’ are often the saddest people. Although this sounds like a paradox, happiness likely does come from grief, and it probably works the other way around as well. Thus, Vonnegut’s work is a testimony to this “satirical fact” about life that happiness many times comes at the price of sadness. And what can we do? His writing generally instructs us to laugh, cry and enjoy all the moments as best we can.

It’s impossible to say if Vonnegut managed to incorporate this in his life, but one thing is sure: he’s been making people around the world laugh — and think — for more than half a century.

HOW KURT VONNEGUT INSPIRES EF10

Vonnegut and his work are the proof that life will never be just happy or sad, no matter how miserable or happy life makes us. Life will always be life and we have only one option: to ride the river we’re presented with just like the Episode EF10 protagonist. There’s wishful thinking hardwired into our system that one day life will be painless. Sorry. Vonnegut could have written his novels if that was the case.

If you need a good laugh and a fresh insight into the everyday troubles you’re facing, read some of Vonnegut’s work. You won’t be sorry: