One final thought on the day.

In one of my earlier posts I made reference to "channeling Kilgore Trout." Here is what that is about.

For those unfamiliar, a recurring character over many novels by Kurt Vonnegut is a science fiction writer by that name. He is not exactly the same in all of the books he appears in, and in the case of Galapagos, he is a ghost narrator that haunts a ship that makes an ill fated journey to the islands made famous by Darwin.

One of my favorite books is Vonnegut's 1978 novel Jailbird. In that case, Trout is the pen name of a prisoner serving a life sentence for espionage. He is a friend of the protagonist, whose first two days of freedom upon his release are the focus of the story. The protagonist, Walter Starbuck, was a low level official in the Nixon administration who takes the fall, and serves two years, for some higher ups in the Watergate scandal.

Starbuck narrates the story of an incredible journey to his old haunts in New York, using flashback, and foreshadowing for a gradual exposition to a stunning, and ironic conclusion. Interspersed in the narrative, Starbuck quotes story lines from Trout. The one about Einstein going to heaven could stand on it's own.

Earlier today, I also posted small clips of some dystopic storylines. I would imagine that Trout's stories were Vonnegut's way of burping out story ideas.