A young private first class by the name of Kurt Vonnegut wandered into the POW Repatriation Camp in Le Havre, France and wrote his family a letter.
“I’m told that you were probably never informed that I was anything other than ‘missing in action,'” he began. “That leaves me a lot of explaining to do.”
And so began the origins of his masterpeice, Slaughterhouse Five. Salon has the story and information about a new collection of his writings on war and peace.
Poo-tee-weet.
finished reading my copy in Dresden.
As it happens, I actually finished my copy of Slaughterhouse 5 sitting outdoors in the Füßgängerzone of Dresden, along Pragerstraße (I had just finished a quick lunch at MacDonald’s). Some of the buildings still bear the scars of war, or at least they did back in 1993 when I was there.
My very next book was Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. These two books make great companion pieces, ideally read back to back like a double feature. It was also good to connect with American lit again…I’d been in Germany nearly 9 months and was getting a little homesick. With Heller, I hadn’t laughed out loud or that hard since reading the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “Trilogy” a few years before.
But finishing Slaughterhouse 5 in Dresden proper was a moving experience.
german spelling
hey there–good going on the ß and the ä in Fussgaengerzone (Fußgängerzone), but there’s no ü, just a u.