newcritics - Latest Comments in Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

Re: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

estiv — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 12:42:35 -0000

A nice example of Vonnegut's sly wit, with the emphasis on the slyness: his novel Jailbird combines real and fictional characters, with an index in the back that mixes them indiscriminately. I looked up Geraldo Rivera, knowing that he was Vonnegut's ex-son-in-law. He wasn't there, technically speaking. Instead there was an entry for Jerry "Cha-Cha" Rivera, a very minor character. Jerry "Cha-Cha" Rivera is a small-time crook who is killed while attempting an armed robbery. In other words, he is a sad little dreamer who is both stupid and cruel. I always assumed that this was Vonnegut's crafty way of giving his opinion of the man who had made his daughter miserable.

Re: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

Dan Leo — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:11:18 -0000

I grew up in a non-literary house, and I discovered books and authors in odd accidental ways. I would wander through the stacks in the library and pick up books whose titles or covers I liked. A few writers whom I discovered then are still favorites, like Kingsley Amis (I picked up "One Fat Englishman" and got hooked) or Henry de Montherlant (how could a 15-year-old not like a book called "Chaos and Night"). This was back in the 60s. I'm not sure how I discovered the pre-"Slaughterhouse-5" Vonnegut. I was an SF fan for a few adolescent years, and I think I saw his named mentioned by Judith Merril in one of her "Year's Best" anthologies. But I picked "Cat's Cradle" off the shelf, and that was it. They don't make authors like him any more.

Re: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

Claire Helene — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:01:59 -0000

I read Breakfast of Champions when I was about 16. A very prudish 16. I don't remember much about it except for the pictures of assholes and other bits of anatomy. I don't remember it very well.

I read Mother Night for a class on espionage and dissent that I took in college and really enjoyed it. I've always meant to read Slaughterhouse and will definitely soon.

Two quotes from Mother Night that I scribbled into my quote book when I was 19.

"Make love when you can. It's good for you."

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

Re: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

Ralph — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:29:54 -0000

Cat's Cradle's always been my favorite. To me, it's his funniest novel. His cynical eye for dark fatalism depresses me sometimes. The last book of his I read was Mother Night. In the end, the spy becomes the real thing. The moral dilema is never resolved because the 'hero' begins to doubt his innocence. But his guilt is based on a misunderstanding of facts -- yet there is no turning back. Basically, death and judgment befall everyone, no matter which side you are really on. That's kind of a bummer. There's no revelation, no peace, no joy. It's all a sad, hopeless mess. I guess I changed over the years too.

Re: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

Tom Watson — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:07:42 -0000

Witty, wise and cranky - it's interesting that Vonnegut had two sets of work: his fiction and his essays/speeches. Now, of course, I have to dive back in and follow another short-term obsession.

Re: Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Generation

Jerry Prager — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:49:55 -0000

Vonnegut as Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was the prophet who told court prophets that all their rosy pictures were false, "there will be no peace."
He was also the one who told the Jews to accept the Babylonian captivity and to prosper there because in 70 years they would be allowed to come home.
He also told the Jews who went to Egypt that they would disappear there, but he went with them, because he thought they'd need him.
I needed Vonnegut when I was a teenager, when I thought the court prophets were liars and the road to Egypt looked more promising than Babylon.
My favourite piece of Vonnegut writing is actually something I haven't read in years. It's from Palm Sunday, a book of sundry writings, it was sermon he gave to a Unitarian Church. I don't remember much about it, except that it was witty, and wise and cranky.
Maybe the optimistic cynicism I have comes from Vonnegut as you say, with just a little from Crabby Appleton too.
Perhaps in the same way he freed Kilgour Trout from his own novels, Vonnegut has been freed.