[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Kurt Vonnegut,

Thank you for being real and speaking freely in your novels. Unfortunately, many can’t appreciate your candor but that is why I begin my letter with thanks. Because I appreciate it. The ways in which you get people to think and rethink their values because of what you write. You get readers to think critically – a not easy feat as I am sure you are aware. Especially in the current political and social climate, a climate in which I am sure you would have a lot to say about, people need to learn to think critically and question everything. So often, people get tied to beliefs because of the principle of having beliefs and less about the belief itself. That is why I say thanks. I think more people need to critically evaluate themselves the way you have every reader questioning norms, beliefs, technology, the world.

One of my most favorite examples of you getting readers to question values is in Breakfast of Champions with defamiliarization of the beginnings and the so called “founding” of America. You challenge people’s thoughts in a way that allows them to be much more receptive to another point of view. After every novel of yours I have been struck with so many questions and wonderings. I really love that you leave people with something to think about. To me, that is art. As an artist myself I am always looking for new lens and new perspectives and new ways to portray concepts so that people can begin to think about them differently. Thank you for creating art.

I am going to be honest when I say that I had not read any of your novels or even really heard of you before taking an undergraduate course dedicated to you and your novels. Now, I don’t think I’ll stop reading your work. I feel like it is something that I could read and reread and discover new things every time. We also didn’t cover every book of yours, so I can certainly find new treasures.

Thank you, Kurt Vonnegut.

Best,

Molly Anglum

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