Literary Tattoos

Contrariwise collects images of literary tattoos. Some are images, but most are quotations. Here’s a nice Vonnegut tat.

Many years ago I worked in a bookstore in Dallas, Texas. Kurt Vonnegut was visiting, on tour for Galapagos. The day before he arrived I received a phone call from an obnoxious woman asking if Vonnegut could sign a half-dozen copies for her to pick up. She wouldn’t be able to attend the signing, but wanted to hand them out as gifts. Of course, as authors do, Vonnegut signed lots more copies after the signing for the store to sell. She came in that night, a middle-aged woman wearing expensive clothes and an attitude that comes from a life of privilege. She was rude to everyone, picked up her books and left.

The next morning she marched back in holding all the books she had bought and demanded a refund. She couldn’t give these books away. The author’s signature was obscene. We gave her money back and put the books out for sale. But, I always wondered how she knew that the asterisk in Vonnegut’s signature was supposed to be an asshole.

You would think that if she were familiar with his work, she would find the signature funny, and if she wasn’t familiar with his work she would only see an asterisk. Anyway, I always thought it was a testament to Vonnegut’s greatness that there are people who find even his signature obscene and offensive.