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literature to destabilize tradition by transcending its limitations. It is the power of literature to create something new, and
be active, rather than to remain passive, rewriting old canonical narratives. Under their concept of Becoming, Vonneguts
fiction may be considered as Minor literature, as this concept is explained in Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature (1975).
Authors like Kurt Vonnegut are canaries in the coal mine, whose mission is to launch the alarm bell when destruction is
near, when humanity is about to destroy itself. The religion of Bokononism on the other hand provides peaceful lies. Man
seeks not truth, but inner peace, and man since the victory of science lives in inner turmoil and absurd. Vonnegut
Original Article
failures of Western Tradition. The concept of Becoming as defined by Deleuze and Guattari indicates the power of
textualizes the catastrophe in his black humorist existential religion of Bokononism. This novel exposes Vonneguts
experimental language and literary games through which he wrote apocalypse. In Galpagos, Vonnegut allows the
human bodyrather than the tongueto express itself; because human brain and language were fashioned by Reason.
Literature allows self- expression in terms that are alien to human nature, because they can describe and create
difference, unlike traditional discourse. In Galpagos, human evolution allows the exploration of the world through the
eyes of a creature other than human, thus providing a different perspective.
KEY WORDS: Kurt Vonnegut, Cats Cradle, Bokononism, Fisher-folks, Galpagos, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari,
Becoming, Becoming-animal, Minor literature
Received: Feb 12, 2016; Accepted: Mar 22, 2016; Published: Mar 30, 2016; Paper Id.: IJELAPR2016011
INTRODUCTION
Kurt Vonneguts science fiction novels feature narratives that are funny, but also carry some truth. They
tell what mad scientists can do to the world, and what may happen to this world in the future. His fiction allows
readers to understand how literature allows people to transcend the boundaries imposed on them by Tradition. The
meaning of Tradition in this context, with capital T refers particularly to the Western Canon as an outcome of the
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Meriem Mengouchi
project of Modernity, and which became subject of criticism in the twentieth century.
When man becomes different, he overcomes his limitations. By transcending the boundaries of the normal, human
beings go through a process of Becoming, more specifically, becoming animal in Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattaris
sense. The concept of Becoming as defined by Deleuze and Guattari indicates the power of literature to destabilize
tradition by transcending its limitations. It is the power of literature to create something new, and be active, rather than to
remain passive, rewriting old canonical narratives1. Under their concept of Becoming, Vonneguts fiction may be
considered as Minor literature, as this concept is explained in Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature (1975). The first
characteristic of Minor literature is that of deterritorialization , it uses language with new meanings in order to give the
same words new functions. Bodies in Galpagos might as well be said to be deterritorialized, because they have different
functions.
Deterritorialization means the use of the same language out of its usual context. An author deterritorializes
language when s/he creates new meanings that are unfamiliarto the western canon. It is to free language from its
ideological connotation while using itdifferently. Deleuze and Guattari cite Jewish literature in Germany as an example of
language deterritorialization. The Jewish used the German language, the language of theoppressor, in order to subvert their
own oppression. Language was used outside its usual contextof the German dictatorship and served a new purpose.
The Language of Bokononism:
Vonneguts techniques consist in inventing grotesque images of humans, such as human beings turning into seals
or, a ghost choosing to remain on earth for one million years in Galpagos, and a whole language in Cats Cradle.
Language, in Vonneguts use is active in the sense that it is creative and productive of new meanings. Language can act as
active and create new meanings, as well as new perspectives2. When Vonnegut uses language actively, he produces a
jargon of his own.
The language of Bokononism in Cats Cradle is a Becoming, because it is the power of literature to produce
meaning rather than represent pre-given codes made intentionally to fashion life. Becoming is hybrid; it destabilizes life
when it approaches social, political and philosophical issues from other perspectives than those associated with the
traditional definition of human. Thus, Becoming dislocates the Tradition. It is the transformation which allows
experimentation of what was impossible before for the sake of overcoming the limitations of humanity. It is the challenge
of transforming the perceived image from which we usually approach life3.
Vonnegut uses language to break the Tradition and the dictatorship of sameness. In Vonneguts use, language is
not a tool of representation but of transformation. Assuming that language is a means for representation grants it the power
to be independent and set by itself values for the community. Deleuze and Guattari see language as the power to go beyond
the usual. Style, says Deleuze, is the power to create something new without antecedent4. Language is thus
deterritorialized, since the same words serve a different goal, mainly that of subverting Tradition. Deterritorialization is
Ibid., 111.
Ibid., 103.
4
Ibid., 106.
3
Bokononism, Fisherfolks, and Madness as Becomings in Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle and Galpagos
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listed by Deleuze and Guattari as the first characteristic of what they call Minor Literature. 5
Deleuze and Guattaris concept of Minor Literature refers to a literature written by a minority in the language of
the majority. It is not a literature written in a minor language, not representational, but uses the language of great literature
with new meanings. It is a sounding of new voices that have been silenced in great literature. For literature to be minor,
language should be a vehicle6 for the creation of identity, rather than a representation of tradition. Deleuze and Guattari
set three characteristics to Minor Literature.
In Cats Cradle Vonnegut brings out new meanings in invented words ( Granfaloon, Wampeters, Foma, Karass
etc), even though they are ironical and sarcastic, but they mock the constructs of the Modern world. Deleuze and Guattari
speak of style and how language becomes the creator of new meanings. Language, it is argued, is active when it extends its
transformative power. Deleuze and Guattari argue that it is through nonsense that language becomes a creator of sense.7
Likewise, Vonnegut creates new meanings through words that have never existed before, especially in Cats
Cradle. These are words that have no etymological antecedent in the world, like Karass, Granfalloon (which stand
respectively for the people who feel betrayed by Western Culture and the people who are blinded by its claims), boko-maru
(a Bokononist rite that is practiced by touching other peoples feet for spiritual love), Foma (shameless lies), Vin-dit (a
shove in the direction of Bokononism), and many other words including the Wampeter (the pivot of a Karass). Through
such words Bokonon provides comfort for people. Bokoninism is a religion designed to make people feel better about their
lives, because, although made of lies, it tells them good things that are real about the world. For example, the Granfalloon ,
which is an absurd concept which refers to people who work together toward no particular end, and give importance to
superficial things, such as, the fact that some people studied in the same university would make them members of the same
family8.
Vonnegut defines the reality and nature of a Granfalloon in a Bokononist calypso: if you wish to study a
granfalloon / just remove the skin of a toy balloon.9 The Karass, on the other hand, is a group of people connected
unwillingly in order to do Gods Will.10 It is the opposite of a Granfalloon, and contributes to building an identity that is
opposite to the absurd identity promoted by Western Culture. Some words are rather childish and have a comic function
like Borasisi (the Sun) and Pabu (the Moon)11 ; : a Stuppa is a fogbound child. (which in Cats Cradle refers to Frank in
particular).12 All these words work together to create one proposition, free will is not the property of humans and that
striving to control life is useless.
Fisher Folks in Galpagos, or The Becoming-Animal
In Galpagos, Vonnegut allows the human bodyrather than the tongueto express itself; because human brain
and language were fashioned by Reason. Literature allows self- expression in terms that are alien to human nature, because
5
Deleuze, Gilles, and Flix Guattari, Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature, transl. by Polan, Dana, Minneapolis, U of
Minnesota P, 1986, 16.
6
Colebrook, Claire,op.cit., 111.
7
. Ibid.
8
Vonnegut, Kurt, Cat's Cradle, New York, Dial Press: Dell, 1963. pp.103. (epub)
9
Ibid. 104
10
Ibid., 12
11
Ibid., 200
12
Ibid., 108
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they can describe and create difference, unlike traditional discourse. In Galpagos, human evolution allows the exploration
of the world through the eyes of a creature other than human, thus providing a different perspective. As in the case of
Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis13, who sees the world through the eyes of a vermin, human beings in
Galpagos see the world through those of fish-like creatures which is similar to what Deleuze and Guattari called the
Becoming-animal14.
Becoming-animal is a type of Becoming where a person transcends their human condition and transform into an
animal as a form of liberation from conventional conditioning. It is a chance for man to see the world with different eyes,
different from the usual definition of human.15. This conforms to human evolution in Galpagosto fisherfolkswhere
human body transforms into a seal-like creature and starts a new way of being a human being, a way that human beings
never experienced before. They have smaller brains that are less intelligent than those of humans-as-we-know-them-now,
and they have flippers instead of arms, which facilitate swimming but prevent aggressive destruction.
Becoming is the shift to what is beyond human and beyond the usual. Deleuze and Guattari read Kafkas
Metamorphosis as a model of Becoming. The protagonist in Metamorphosis is transformed into an insect, and is
considered to be exploring the freedom of approaching life in a different way. Becoming is easier to accomplish in
literature than in real life, because it allows language and imagination to be very productive16. Thus, man becomes animal
and overcomes his nature. Vonnegut transforms man into fish-like creatures in Galpagos, thereby giving the human body
freedom to liberate itself from human made rules.
Another characteristic feature of minor literature is that in it, everything is political. That which is undermined in
great literature is given importance in minor literature. In minor literature, lived spacethe environmentimplicates each
individual willingly and unwillingly into political concerns. The individual concern becomes necessary in the sense that it
is the carrier of other stories within itself. In Galpagos, the question of racism surfaces and is tackled in the same manner
grand narratives discussed it, only in reverse. Instead of undermining people of color and centering on white people,
Vonnegut centers on people of color and weakens whites by bringing them to extinction. In Cats Cradle, Vonnegut does
not praise science as the savior of man from his self incurred immaturity,17 but shows the different ways in which
scienceand the discourse of reasoncan be harmful to humans.
The third characteristic feature of Minor Literature is the presence of a collective value, which literature is able
to create through the enunciation of what only a few people care about. It creates a community, which did not exist before
to stand for that cause. It is an active solidarity between the members of a minority whose writers are distinguished not
because of their talent but because they raise issues that have been silenced before, issues that are political18. Thus
Vonneguts novels have the function of sounding the alarm bell when humanity starts to destroy itself. He takes on the role
of the one who cares for other human beings when they seem to be blinded and no longer able to act responsiblye.
Likewise, the collective value characteristically makes Vonneguts novels useful for all categories of people, people of all
13
Bokononism, Fisherfolks, and Madness as Becomings in Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle and Galpagos
63
19
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In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater26, Vonnegut acknowledges the fact that science-fiction writers write of the catastrophes
of the world through madness, and thus face evil rather than escape it27. Madness becomes a metaphor for the insanity of
society and its wish to destroy itself. Madness is a trope for social phenomena tormenting the individual. The trope also
includes exceeding mechanization and technological tyranny, self-serving religions, nuclear wars, and what Vonnegut calls
plain old death in Slaughterhouse-Five28.
In Galpagos, most characters suffer from mental breakdowns or depression, which are often the results of the
imposed culture. Mary Hepburn blames her brain for telling her to kill herself while she is actually trying to do so29.
Almost every single character in the novel may be considered mad in one way or another. Marys husband Roy acts weird
before his death; he books a trip without planning for it, and obliges Mary to take it. His decisions are caused by his brain
cancer30.
CONCLUSIONS
All the cases of madness in the novel are attributed to a defect in the human brain, which is mostly caused by a
post-war trauma. The narrator, and putative writer of the book, Leon Trout, goes crazy after having killed an old woman in
Vietnam. The soldier who burgles into a shop near the hotel El Dorado, and who shoots businessman Andrew Macintosh
and Japanese scientist Zenji Hiroguchi, is schizophrenic and paranoid. He is eighteen years old and is provided live
ammunition, which is unfit for his mental health. Madness is once more attributed to a defect in the brain of the hotel
manager Siegfried Von Kleist, his inheritance of his fathers sickness, which makes him dance for no apparent reason. The
wish to explore new ways of approaching life, in order to give the self new reasons to live led Vonnegut and other writers
of his generation to be creative in exploring new perspectives. Not only did Becoming serve Vonnegut in his self-liberation
from tradition, but other writing techniques also allowed him to undermine this restrictive process. He wrote in satiric and
ironic ways, and at the same time, he managed to point out the major problems of the century.
REFERENCES
26
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