Letters of note

[Steve M]

This particular one is from Keith of the Rolling Stones. But scroll the right pane and you'll find lots of great letters to read..


http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/04/he ... agger.html

[Webb]

That site has some great letters. I posted another one of his in the history forum.



I am very real

November 16, 1973

Dear Mr. McCarthy:

I am writing to you in your capacity as chairman of the Drake School Board. I am among those American writers whose books have been destroyed in the now famous furnace of your school.

Certain members of your community have suggested that my work is evil. This is extraordinarily insulting to me. The news from Drake indicates to me that books and writers are very unreal to you people. I am writing this letter to let you know how real I am.

I want you to know, too, that my publisher and I have done absolutely nothing to exploit the disgusting news from Drake. We are not clapping each other on the back, crowing about all the books we will sell because of the news. We have declined to go on television, have written no fiery letters to editorial pages, have granted no lengthy interviews. We are angered and sickened and saddened. And no copies of this letter have been sent to anybody else. You now hold the only copy in your hands. It is a strictly private letter from me to the people of Drake, who have done so much to damage my reputation in the eyes of their children and then in the eyes of the world. Do you have the courage and ordinary decency to show this letter to the people, or will it, too, be consigned to the fires of your furnace?

I gather from what I read in the papers and hear on television that you imagine me, and some other writers, too, as being sort of ratlike people who enjoy making money from poisoning the minds of young people. I am in fact a large, strong person, fifty-one years old, who did a lot of farm work as a boy, who is good with tools. I have raised six children, three my own and three adopted. They have all turned out well. Two of them are farmers. I am a combat infantry veteran from World War II, and hold a Purple Heart. I have earned whatever I own by hard work. I have never been arrested or sued for anything. I am so much trusted with young people and by young people that I have served on the faculties of the University of Iowa, Harvard, and the City College of New York. Every year I receive at least a dozen invitations to be commencement speaker at colleges and high schools. My books are probably more widely used in schools than those of any other living American fiction writer.

If you were to bother to read my books, to behave as educated persons would, you would learn that they are not sexy, and do not argue in favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are. It is true that some of the characters speak coarsely. That is because people speak coarsely in real life. Especially soldiers and hardworking men speak coarsely, and even our most sheltered children know that. And we all know, too, that those words really don’t damage children much. They didn’t damage us when we were young. It was evil deeds and lying that hurt us.

After I have said all this, I am sure you are still ready to respond, in effect, “Yes, yes–but it still remains our right and our responsibility to decide what books our children are going to be made to read in our community.” This is surely so. But it is also true that if you exercise that right and fulfill that responsibility in an ignorant, harsh, un-American manner, then people are entitled to call you bad citizens and fools. Even your own children are entitled to call you that.

I read in the newspaper that your community is mystified by the outcry from all over the country about what you have done. Well, you have discovered that Drake is a part of American civilization, and your fellow Americans can’t stand it that you have behaved in such an uncivilized way. Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.

If you and your board are now determined to show that you in fact have wisdom and maturity when you exercise your powers over the eduction of your young, then you should acknowledge that it was a rotten lesson you taught young people in a free society when you denounced and then burned books–books you hadn’t even read. You should also resolve to expose your children to all sorts of opinions and information, in order that they will be better equipped to make decisions and to survive.

Again: you have insulted me, and I am a good citizen, and I am very real.

Kurt Vonnegut

[Steve M]

I wish the modern day Pinot swilling, Lulu Lemen wearing, Cadilac Escalade driving soccer moms would read Kurt Vonneguts letter. And stop trying to childproof literature.

[Webb]

It's too bad he couldn't make the appearance. It would have blown their minds.

Make your soul grow

Back in 2006, a group of students at Xavier High School in New York City (one of whom, "JT," submitted this letter) were given an assignment by their English teacher, Ms. Lockwood, that was to test their persuasive writing skills: they were asked to write to their favourite author and ask him or her to visit the school. Five of those pupils chose Kurt Vonnegut. His thoughtful reply, seen below, was the only response the class received.

[OldAirmail]

Kurt Vonnegut
"I don't make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana."



I hope I do so well when I'm in my eighties!

Vonnegut was all the rage when I was growing up, but to tell the truth - he bored me to death. Maybe it was just my age.



I seem to be one of the decreasingly few who reads a great deal. I had books filling bookcase after bookcase.

My wife will certainly toss them after my death, and so I tried giving them away. No one was interested.

A neighbor, across the street, had a son, about 10 or so. I have a number of books from my teens, so I asked the neighbor if his son might want a few. His reacted as if I were trying to pervert his son!

I made sure that I never spoke, or waved, to his son after that. I don't want the father getting any ideas.



A few years ago I bought a Sony reader, and started buying all my books in an electronic format. I've switched to a 7" Samsung tablet now, and have never looked back.

[PhantomTweak]

I guess I'm just a nasty old BOOK reader. Still have a ton, still read them avidly! never need a recharge, all I need is a 3/4 moon light or better to use them, Love the things Oh yeah, nowadays, I DO need my reading glasses, well glass anyway, to read them. I only have one eye left. I keep wondering if I can get 1/2 off a pair of prescription glasses come the day....

By the same token, I've been told I'm just plain wierd anyway!

Have a great read however you may choose to do it!

Pat~

[OldAirmail]

The way that I've always looked at it, if you read anything at all, you're doing good.

I don't even care it it's a comic book. Even a comic book can expose you to new ideas, and situations that you might otherwise never encounter.


We build our lives by the exposure to people and life. Books expand the possibilities.

It's up to you where you go from there.



BTW Phantom. You can have 1/2 off on a pair of glasses, when I get a two thirds off from the barber.