Frivolous literary note

[Jeremy Osner]

dennis grace wrote:
> 
> My problem with attributing character lines to authors is a writerly one.
> Take Mark Twain or Alice Walker, for example.  Both of them have had
> characters who make malicious use of the pejorative "nigger."  Now, do you
> think either of them would appreciate seeing such a quote attributed to them
> without the protective gauze of a character's voice?  I know I wouldn't want
> my nastier characters' words attributed to me.
> 

There is also the problem of voice. Recently someone told someone else,

	> Your epigram somehow reminds me of a sentence in "Cat's Cradle" by
Kurt 
	> Vonnegut: "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."

Coming from KV's mouth these words don't make nearly as much sense as
they do when uttered by Bokonon.

Jeremy