The Sirens of Titan -

Kurt Vonnegut

RosettaBooks

2010

338 páginas

11h 16m

ISBN-13: 9780795303067

The Sirens of Titan (1959) is Vonnegut's second novel and was on the Hugo ballot with Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers but lost in what Harlan Ellison has called a monumental injustice. Sirens of Titan is a picaresque novel which almost defies being synposized; it is an interplanetary Candide (lacking perhaps Voltaire's utter bitterness), the book follows lead character Malachi Constant, a feckless but kind-hearted millionaire as he moves through the solar system on his quest for the meaning of all existence.

Constant is aided by another tycoon, Winston Rumfoord, who with the help of aliens has actually discovered the fundamental meaning of life (the retrieval of an alien artifact with an inscribed message of greetings). With the assistance of Salo, an alien root and overseeing the alien race, the Tralmafadorians (who also feature in Slaughterhouse-Five), Constant attempts to find some cosmic sense and order in the face of universal malevolence. Together Constant and Rumfoord deal with the metaphysics of "chrono-synclastic infundibula", they deal with the interference of the Tralmafadorians; the novel is pervaded by a goofy, episodic charm which barely shields the readers (or the characters) from the sense of a large and indifferent universe.

All of Vonnegut's themes and obsessions (which are further developed and/or recycled in later work) are evident here in this novel which is more hopeful than most of Vonnegut's canon. It is suggested that ultimately Constant learns that only it is impossible to learn, and that fate (and the Tralmafodorians) are impenetrable, unavoidable circumstance.

On the basis of this novel, Vonnegut was wholly claimed by the science fiction community (as witnessed by the Hugo nomination), but Vonnegut did not likewise wish to claim the community for himself and the feelings were not reciprocal. He felt from the outset that being identified as a science fiction writer could only limit his audience and trivialize his themes. His recurring character, the hack science fiction writer, Kilgore Trout (who also features in Slaughterhouse-Five), represented to Vonnegut the worst case scenario of the writer he did not wish to become.

Resenhas (4)

4 (Muito bom)

Um livro sobre livre arbítrio

Não sou a maior fã de ficção científica (dá pra notar só de eu ter passado um mês inteiro pra ler um livro tão curto, mas é sobre isso), mas o livro é bom. É fácil de ler, a história acontece rapidamente, parece que em todo minuto tem alguma desgraça acontecendo.

O tema maior aqui é o livre arbítrio. Se até uns 70% do livro, tudo parece estar sendo manipulado por Rumfoord, no fim descobrimos que até mesmo ele estava sendo manipulado por outros seres. E aí podemos ver como cada um lidou: Chrono surtou e foi viver com os pássaros e ficava fazendo altares pra alguma religião desconhecida. Beatrice ficou obcecada em tentar argumentar contra, que os humanos não estavam sendo controlados. Enquanto Constant, como o homem simples de cérebro lisinho, apenas aceitou seu destino. Ninguém é tratado como errado ou certo, apenas como pessoas que reagiram de forma diferente a serem manipuladas a vida inteira.

Acho que vale sim a leitura, mesmo que você não curta muito ficção científica.