They're Not
Harrison Weber
The worlds of literature and Punk Rock are two separate universes, and one rarely bleeds into the other. Academia is typically seen as clean, genteel, and populated by authority figures. Punk is perceived as the opposite.
It is a screaming pit of rage and madness. A dark hole swarming with angry people shrieking anarchist slogans. My mother best summed up this attitude when she said, “Harrison, these punks, are just, they’re just angry disrespectful assholes.”
An interesting question arises from the stark contrast of Punk and literature: “What comparisons can be drawn between punk and the writing of an established literary figure?”
A new understanding of Punk Rock can be gleaned by examining it alongside the works of Kurt Vonnegut, a man who is widely regarded as the one of the finest black-humorists ever to be published. By trying to understand how Vonnegut would feel about Punk, we can develop an increased appreciation for it.
Punk songs and Vonnegut’s writings are both based primarily based in emotion and ideology. One would need to understand the ideologies behind them before attempting to compare them. Let us begin by examining Vonnegut’s work and the principles found within.
Vonnegut believed in a massive number of causes with great conviction. This is apparent in his writings, which serve mainly as a vehicle for him to share his thoughts on social injustice, capi-talism, war, Marxism, government, the human condition and a variety of other topics.
Disclaimer: The following piece contains quoted sources that use explicit language.