Abstract
In 1970 Kurt Vonnegut spoke at the graduation ceremony at Bennington College in Vermont.1 As was typical of Vonnegut, he drew heavily on his life experience in his remarks, talking about the events surrounding the destruction of Dresden; yet on this particular occasion, the author also spoke about the atomic bombs in Japan, the fall of Biafra (which he had narrowly escaped), and the events in Vietnam (at that time beginning to demand worldwide attention). Not surprisingly, he chastised Americans and their government for allowing such historical mistakes to repeat themselves. Curiously, though, he also hid this comment amidst the rant:
I know that millions of dollars have been spent to produce this splendid graduating class, and that the main hope of your teachers was, once they got through with you, that you would no longer be superstitious. I’m sorry—I have to undo that now. I beg you to believe in the most ridiculous superstition of all: that humanity is at the center of the universe, the fulfiller or the frustrator of the grandest dreams of God Almighty.
If you can believe that, and make others believe it, then there might be hope for us. Human beings might stop treating each other like garbage, might begin to treasure and protect each other instead. Then it might be all right to have babies again. (qtd. in Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons 163–64)
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© 2009 David Simmons
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Glover, C. (2009). “Somewhere in There Was Springtime”: Kurt Vonnegut, His Apocalypses, and His Post-9/11 Heirs. In: Simmons, D. (eds) New Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut. American Literature Readings in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100817_11
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