As cultural figures, the late James Earl Jones and Kurt Vonnegut would seem to have had little in common, but each could easily be recognized by his voice. Jones’ will come to mind as soon as you think of Darth Vader, Simba’s father, or “This is CNN.” Vonnegut’s distinction was the voice evident on any given page of novels like Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and of course Slaughterhouse-Five — a voice many of us have known since adolescence. They come together in the Letters Live video above with Jones reading a Vonnegut letter to the students of Ms. Lockwood’s English class at New York’s Xavier High School in 2006.
Vonnegut was writing in response to five such students, who’d chosen him when assigned to write to their favorite author. We’ve previously featured his letter here on Open Culture as read aloud by Sir Ian McKellen, but its message bears repeating by anyone who will speak it, beloved actor or otherwise. “Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly,” he writes. The idea is “not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
The celebrated novelist even hands down an assignment to his teenage fans: “Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood.” After thoroughly disposing of this entirely private piece of art, know that “you have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.”
None of this conflicts with the standard advice about writing, which tends to emphasize just getting started, working under restrictions, and not making an undue rush to publication. But they make a different kind of impact when recommended by Vonnegut in what would turn out to be the last year of life, and with his characteristic tendency to reach for the heavens while never departing from the mundane, even silly things of this earth. “Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on,” he suggests. “Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.” There writes a grand old man of American letters who knew how communicate across a distance of generations.
Related content:
James Earl Jones (RIP) Reads Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”
James Earl Jones Reads Othello at White House Poetry Jam
Frederick Douglass’s Fiery 1852 Speech, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” Read by James Earl Jones
Darth Vader’s Voice: The Original Voice Versus the Vocals of James Earl Jones
Kurt Vonnegut Urges Young People to Make Art and “Make Your Soul Grow”
Sir Ian McKellen Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter to High School Students: Make Art and “Make Your Soul Grow”
Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the Substack newsletter Books on Cities and the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
