Tag Archives: RKS literature

RKS Literature: Why Executives Die Young (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)

“The reason executives die young is that they don’t know how to delegate authority,” said Hackleman. “This should add twenty years to my life, because I hereby delegate to you my full authority as publicity director, just tendered to me by the Chamber of Commerce. The door of opportunity is wide open. If your publicityContinue reading “RKS Literature: Why Executives Die Young (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)”

RKS Literature: The Deadness of The Corporate Typing Pool (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)

“Life is what you make it”, said Miss Hostetter, “and in-gratitude is one of the worst sins. Look around you! Pictures on the walls, carpets on the floor, beautiful music, hospitalization and retirement, the Christmas party, fresh flowers on our desks, coffee hours, our own cafeteria, our own recreation room with television and ping pong.”Continue reading “RKS Literature: The Deadness of The Corporate Typing Pool (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)”

RKS Literature: No Such Thing as a Good Father (Yukio Mishima)

“There is no such thing as a good father because the role itself is bad, Strict fathers, soft fathers, nice moderate fathers-one’s as bad as the other. The stand in the way of our progress while they try to burden us with their inferiority complexes, and their unrealized aspirations, and their resentments, and their ideals,Continue reading “RKS Literature: No Such Thing as a Good Father (Yukio Mishima)”

RKS Literature: The Kiss of Death (Yukio Mishima)

“For Ryuji the kiss was death, the very death in love he always dreamed of. The softness of her lips, her mouth so crimson in the darkness he could see it with closed eyes, so infinitely moist, a tepid coral sea, her restless tongue quivering like seagrass….in the dark rapture of all this was somethingContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Kiss of Death (Yukio Mishima)”

RKS Literature: The Concept of Ideal Love (Yukio Mishima)

“Nor had he mentioned his concept of ideal love: a man encounters the perfect woman only once in a lifetime and in every case death interposes-an unseen Pandarus-and lures them into the preordained embrace. This fantasy was probably a product of the hyperbole of popular songs. But over the years it had taken on substanceContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Concept of Ideal Love (Yukio Mishima)”

RKS Literature: Of What Use Are Children’s Playthings (Vonnegut)

“As anyone who has experimented extensively with life in the home and community, using real people in true-life situations, I doubt that any playthings could prepare a child for one millionth of what is going to hit him in the teeth, ready or not.” Kurt Vonnegut Jr., “Mother Night”, 1961

RKS Literature: Schizophrenia a Boon to Mankind (Vonnegut)

“The experience of sitting there in the dark, hearing the things I said, didn’t shock me. It might be helpful in my defence to say that I broke into a cold sweat, or some such nonsense. But I’ve always known what I did. I’ve always been able to live with what I did. How? ThroughContinue reading “RKS Literature: Schizophrenia a Boon to Mankind (Vonnegut)”

RKS Literature: The World Will Never Be White Again (James Baldwin)

“One of the things that distinguishes Americans from other people is that no other people have ever been so deeply involved in the lives of black men, and vice versa. This fact faced, with all its implications, it can be seen that the history of the American Negro problem is not merely shameful, it isContinue reading “RKS Literature: The World Will Never Be White Again (James Baldwin)”

RKS Literature: Playing the Poverty Game in Paris (James Baldwin)

“In those days in Paris, though I floated, so to speak, on a sea of acquaintances. I knew almost no one. Many people were eliminated from my orbit by virtue of the fact that they had more money than I did which placed me, in my own eyes, in the humiliating role of a freeContinue reading “RKS Literature: Playing the Poverty Game in Paris (James Baldwin)”

RKS Literature: Playing the Poverty Game in Paris (James Baldwin)

“In those days in Paris, though I floated, so to speak, on a sea of acquaintances. I knew almost no one. Many people were eliminated from my orbit by virtue of the fact that they had more money than I did which placed me, in my own eyes, in the humiliating role of a freeContinue reading “RKS Literature: Playing the Poverty Game in Paris (James Baldwin)”