Kurt Vonnegut

Pen name is "Kurt Vonnegut Jr."

Middle age gallant and poet.

Psychological fantasy author. Of his works, CatsCradle and SlaughterhouseFive will appear in the reading lists of "American Literature" courses for many years to come. However, the work that delivers the best mind screw, in one WikiZen's humble opinion, is SirensOfTitan?.

(Partial)List of Works by Kurt Vonnegut

Novels

After some discussion with a friend in college about whether science fiction was any good I brought up Kurt Vonnegut. Her response:

"Oh, that's not ScienceFiction. That's good!"

Somehow, I knew that explaining the idea of tautology wasn't going to help me out...

Vonnegut apparently wanted very much to not be "tainted" by being seen as an SF author, and his books have been marketed accordingly.

In real SciFi the hardware is the love interest...

I get the same reaction when I bring up WilliamBurroughs ... As I wrote on ScienceFiction, I have yet to hear a sensible definition of the term ScienceFiction that would exclude KurtVonnegut and WilliamBurroughs, but most ScienceFiction fans don't consider those two others part of the genre for some reason.

In 1982, I was living in downtown IndianapolisIndiana behind the Central Library. The Indianapolis libraries are well stocked with Vonnegut, and being in the peak of my angry young man phase, I was working my way through the collection.

KurtVonnegut is from Indianapolis, and his father and grandfather were well-known architects here. Some of their grand old buildings still stand around the city. In the preface to Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut describes an ornate clock which hangs from the corner of the old L. S. Ayres Building at Washington and Meridian streets. His father designed both the building and the clock.

One day I was walking downtown, and across Washington street I saw a young man holding open a paperback book and standing directly beneath the clock. He was alternately looking at the book, and then back up at the clock with the strangest expression on his face. Even across the street, I could tell that the book was Breakfast ofChampions. I was amused.

When the light changed, I crossed the street, walked up to the guy and said, "You know, KurtVonnegut's father designed that clock." The expression on his face changed to one of complete shock. I walked away without saying another word.

--TimVoght

KurtVonnegut was involved in one great Internet moment. In 1997 an e-mail began circulating that purported to be a MIT commencement speech given by Mr. Vonnegut. The first line of the speech was "WearSunscreen?". The chainmail spread like wildfire. However, it was a hoax. The 'speech' was really written by Chicago Tribune Newspaper Columnist MarySchmich?. In a sense, Mr. Vonnegut became involved in a real-life story just as bizarre as his writings.

Meanwhile, the WearSunscreen? column became a popular graduation gift and even a record (read by director BazLuhrman?!!). Its popularity (and royalties) probably make up for Ms. Schmich's destiny as the Internet's first inadvertant ghost writer.

So nobody but me thought that WearSunscreen? speech was just too stupid - even as a parody of itself - to have been Kurt's? --PhlIp

What's your favourite?

My personal favourite is "Slaughterhouse Five", with "Sirens of Titan" a close second. -- CarlosNsRodrigues