Photo/Illutration An exhibit at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in 2016 in Indianapolis, the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, where the writer was born (AP file photo)

“Slaughterhouse-Five,” a representative work by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, revolves around an absurdist plot.

Characters perish one after another during the firebombing of a city and other situations.

Every time someone is killed, the same phrase is repeated ad nauseam: “So it goes.”

Nov. 11 marked the centennial of the birth of the beloved writer, who is known for his science-fiction masterpieces.

A sense of nostalgia about the days when I was captivated by his novels led me to reread some of them, such as “Mother Night,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “Bluebeard.”

Vonnegut witnessed many citizens being killed in the Allied bombing of Dresden during World War II.

His works reflect his wartime experiences and express a mixture of despair of, and affection for, the human race.

“Do you realize that all great literature … are all about what a bummer it is to be a human being?” he wrote.

His writing is also filled with poisonous humor.

“There is no good reason good can’t triumph over evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the mafia,” he wrote.

To be sure, many readers find his novels convoluted and abstruse.

In a commentary about “The Sirens of Titan,” Hikari Ota, half of the comedy duo Bakusho Mondai who is known as an avid fan of Vonnegut, wrote: “It is perfectly natural for readers to feel totally confused (by the novel). That is exactly how we always feel about this world.”

I feel the same way.

Even so, I am tempted to go over Vonnegut’s novels again from time to time.

When things go wrong or when I get depressed, I feel like revisiting his words, which seem to have the power to cheer me up somehow.

I feel like muttering to myself, “Well, so it goes.”

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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