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282 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
‘I remembered the trunk now, remembered when I'd closed it up at the start of the war, remembered when I'd thought of the trunk as a coffin for the young man I would never be again.’
’I am a part of the part that at first was all, part of the darkness that gave birth to light, that supercilious light which now disputes with Mother Night her ancient rank and space, and yet can not succeed; no matter how it struggles, it sticks to matter and can't get free. Light flows from substance, makes it beautiful; solids can check its path, so I hope it won't be long till light and the world's stuff are destroyed together.’
‘There are plenty of good reasons for fighting...but no good reason to ever hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side. It's that part of every man that finds all kinds of ugliness so attractive....it's that part of an imbecile that punishes and vilifies and makes war gladly.’
Probably Vonnegut will never be one of my favourite writers. However, I must say that "Mother Night" is a good novel. Howard W. Campbell Junior is an American playwright emigrated to Germany of the Third Reich, become the symbol as well as the radio personality of Nazi propaganda. Campbell Junior brings us his memories from an Israeli jail, waiting to be tried for crimes against humanity.The tragicomic story that comes out gives us totally grotesque characters, motivated by the most diverse ideals. The personal reflection about the war by the author is interesting, and the protagonist's mental paths that define the epilogue of the novel are interesting too.
Vote: 7.
Probabilmente Vonnegut non è e non sarà mai uno dei miei autori preferiti. Tuttavia devo ammettere che Madre Notte è un bel romanzo. Howard W. Campbell Junior, commediografo americano emigrato nella Germania del terzo Reich, simbolo nonché voce radiofonica della propaganda nazista, ci narra le sue memorie da un carcere israeliano, in attesa di essere processato per crimini contro l'umanità. Il racconto tragicomico che ne viene fuori ci consegna personaggi decisamente grotteschi, mossi dagli ideali più disparati. La riflessione personale sulla guerra da parte dell'autore è interessante, e interessanti sono i percorsi mentali del protagonista che definiscono l'epilogo del romanzo.
Voto: 7
„Jones m-a prezentat ca pe un om care n-are nevoie de nici o prezentare”.
"The dismaying thing about the totalitarian mind is that any given gear, though mutilated, will have at its circumference unbroken sequences of teeth that are immaculately maintained, that are exquisitely machined."
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.As an aside, I’ve heard a lot of reviewers refer to Campbell as a double agent. Although I’m not exactly sure what qualifies for “double agency,” I do think it involves being a secret member of the secret organization you are trying to secretly infiltrate...so you can learn their secrets. So having cleared that up, I think it’s more likely that Campbell is just a plain old mole.
I had hoped, as a broadcaster, to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate. So many people *wanted* to believe me.It's a story of ideological schizophrenia, set in the mind and memoirs of a man who is not crazy.