Re: war wounds

Sorry Jim,

I couldn't resist. A "granfaloon" is "a proud and meaningless association of
human beings." It's a Vonnegutism. It Vonnegut's *Cat's Cradle,* he talks
of these recognized groups of people that, in reality, have no meaning as a
group. In the book, he uses the example of "Hoosiers" who, other than all coming
from the same place, really have little or no meaning for each other.

Later, Vonnegut entitled his collection of essays *Wampeters, Foma, and
Granfaloons." A wampeter "is an object around which the lives of many otherwise
unrelated people may revolve." He cites the Holy Grail. And foma are "harmless
untruths intended to comfort simple souls." His example: "Prosperity is just
around the corner."

Hope that helps.

--John

PS: Forgot to mention the prize for guessing the other four novels in my
Art, Love and Madness course (actually, "Art, Writing, Love, and Obsession" to be
accurate). The winner gets drinks and dinner at the lovely Moon Under Water
cafe, outdoors in the warm summer night under a million stars, overlooking the
bay, in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.

The two books already mentioned, as you no doubt have realized, are Breakfast
of Champions and The Bell Jar. There are four more.

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Thu Jun 26 10:35:53 2003