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Library of America #273
Novels 1987–1997: Bluebeard / Hocus Pocus / Timequake
In the mid-1980s Kurt Vonnegut entered the final decades of his long and abundantly creative life. Like his earlier fiction, the three novels of his late period combine elements of Swiftian satire, pulp-magazine fantasy, and a small-town midwesterner’s sense of common decency. But they are also suffused with something new: an aching nostalgia for a remembered America on the verge of disappearing forever.
Bluebeard (1987) is a tale of the artist’s life as told by Rabo Karabekian, a gifted figurative painter who in the postwar years shrewdly adopted abstraction and earned himself a place in the art world alongside Pollock and Rothko. Now, as he enters his seventies, his minimalist paintings—much in vogue until the substandard acrylics he used began curling off their canvases—have become curatorial liabilities, and his name, once great, has been reduced to one of art history’s comic footnotes. Rueful and alone at his estate in the Hamptons, he retires to a padlocked barn to write his memoirs—and to embark upon a final creative act that just might redeem him, if only in his own eyes.
Hocus Pocus (1990) is another kind of autobiography entirely: the prison memoirs of Eugene Debs Hartke, a former professor of physics who has come to a bad end at the end of a bad century. Dismissed from the faculty of Tarkington College for allegedly airing “negative” thoughts in the classroom, Hartke is accused by the U.S. government of masterminding an uprising at Tarkington’s neighboring institution, the N.Y. State Maximum Security Correctional Facility at Athena. Hartke’s episodic memoirs read like antic op-ed pieces on issues that still bedevil our country today—academic freedom, race and class and gender, environmental calamity, and the effects of “progress” on human dignity.
The premise of Timequake (1997), Vonnegut’s last completed novel, is that on February 13, 2001, the universe suffered a crisis in self-confidence and stopped expanding indefinitely, and that time skipped like a record needle back to February 17, 1991. Consequently, all humanity was forced to relive an entire decade, self-aware but robbed of the happy illusion of free will. “We all had to get back to 2001,” says Vonnegut, moving forward “the hard way, minute by minute, hour by hour, year by year, betting on the wrong horse again, marrying the wrong person again, getting the clap again. You name it!” Kilgore Trout—running for a second time an obstacle course of his own construction—is the hero of half the story, and the author himself the hero of the rest.
Rounded out with a selection of short nonfiction pieces intimately related to these three works, this volume presents the final word from the artist whom the San Francisco Chronicle, reviewing Timequake, called an “old warrior who will not accept the dehumanizing of politics, the blunting of conscience, and the glibness of the late-twentieth-century Western world.”
Bluebeard (1987) is a tale of the artist’s life as told by Rabo Karabekian, a gifted figurative painter who in the postwar years shrewdly adopted abstraction and earned himself a place in the art world alongside Pollock and Rothko. Now, as he enters his seventies, his minimalist paintings—much in vogue until the substandard acrylics he used began curling off their canvases—have become curatorial liabilities, and his name, once great, has been reduced to one of art history’s comic footnotes. Rueful and alone at his estate in the Hamptons, he retires to a padlocked barn to write his memoirs—and to embark upon a final creative act that just might redeem him, if only in his own eyes.
Hocus Pocus (1990) is another kind of autobiography entirely: the prison memoirs of Eugene Debs Hartke, a former professor of physics who has come to a bad end at the end of a bad century. Dismissed from the faculty of Tarkington College for allegedly airing “negative” thoughts in the classroom, Hartke is accused by the U.S. government of masterminding an uprising at Tarkington’s neighboring institution, the N.Y. State Maximum Security Correctional Facility at Athena. Hartke’s episodic memoirs read like antic op-ed pieces on issues that still bedevil our country today—academic freedom, race and class and gender, environmental calamity, and the effects of “progress” on human dignity.
The premise of Timequake (1997), Vonnegut’s last completed novel, is that on February 13, 2001, the universe suffered a crisis in self-confidence and stopped expanding indefinitely, and that time skipped like a record needle back to February 17, 1991. Consequently, all humanity was forced to relive an entire decade, self-aware but robbed of the happy illusion of free will. “We all had to get back to 2001,” says Vonnegut, moving forward “the hard way, minute by minute, hour by hour, year by year, betting on the wrong horse again, marrying the wrong person again, getting the clap again. You name it!” Kilgore Trout—running for a second time an obstacle course of his own construction—is the hero of half the story, and the author himself the hero of the rest.
Rounded out with a selection of short nonfiction pieces intimately related to these three works, this volume presents the final word from the artist whom the San Francisco Chronicle, reviewing Timequake, called an “old warrior who will not accept the dehumanizing of politics, the blunting of conscience, and the glibness of the late-twentieth-century Western world.”
754 pages, Hardcover
First published January 5, 2016
About the author
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
728 books37.6k followersKurt Vonnegut, Junior was an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. He was recognized as New York State Author for 2001-2003.
He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journalist before joining the U.S. Army and serving in World War II.
After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.
His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five, the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.
Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973)
He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journalist before joining the U.S. Army and serving in World War II.
After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.
His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five, the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.
Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 28, 2017
This Library of America Volume N° 273 contains the following three Vonnegut novels:
1. Bluebeard (March 2, 2017)
2. Hocus Pocus (December 27, 2017)
3. Timequake (December 25, 2017)
I re-read all three of these novels again this year (I read them all when I was young, some several times). I've hyper-linked to my individual reviews for your viewing pleasure. These aren't all top-shelf Vonnegut. But still, some are pretty damn close.
1. Bluebeard (March 2, 2017)
2. Hocus Pocus (December 27, 2017)
3. Timequake (December 25, 2017)
I re-read all three of these novels again this year (I read them all when I was young, some several times). I've hyper-linked to my individual reviews for your viewing pleasure. These aren't all top-shelf Vonnegut. But still, some are pretty damn close.
January 9, 2021
El tomo final de este set de cuatro volúmenes publicado por la
Librería de América
incluye tres novelas, que si bien no se incluyen entre las obras más aclamadas del autor, son suficientemente interesantes como para que valga la pena leerlas con atención. En más de un sentido, representan el resumen de los temas que le obsesionan, presentes desde los inicios de su trabajo, donde además nos comparte meditaciones profundamente conmovedoras sobre el arte, la humanidad y la vida en general. A continuación, mis comentarios por separado para cada una de las novelas:
1) Bluebeard
2) Hocus Pocus
3) Timequake
February 28, 2018
Vonnegut's last three novels are my absolute favorite work of his. It is here that he reaps the rewards of a fruitful career, playing off inside jokes present since the very beginnings of his work. And these books, in addition, are beautifully poignant meditations on art, humanity, and life in general. It is worth reading his novels in chronological order to arrive at this conclusion.
October 28, 2018
Hocus Pocus is the best novel I read from Vonnegut: funny, sharp, intriguing
November 1, 2020
I'm in the final stretch of reading Vonnegut's novels in the order laid out in the blog below from the Vonnegut Library and Museum in Indianapolis.
https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/rache...
Bluebeard - 4 stars - Vonnegut's fictional auto-biography of Armenian American abstract expressionist painter Rabo Karabekian. Deft humor, insight into aging and art. Who determines what is art? Is it the artist or the audience?
Karabekian dedicates Bluebeard to a character in the novel, Circe Berman, who becomes Karabekian's muse late in life. Berman bares a similarity to a 2oth century author who like Vonnegut, was frequently the target of censorship and book banning. Characteristic Vonnegut humor throughout.
Timequake - 5 stars - Vonnegut's final novel, part auto-biography, part a treatise on the importance of the gift of free-will and a humanist philosophy. Vonnegut's protagonist, science fiction author Kilgore Trout, finally gets recognition in this final novel. Vonnegut lays out a "Timequake" of ten years in which the planet resets to 10 years prior with absolutely no change in the path of history. Free will essentially disappears for these years as all of society re-lives their lives in duplicate. Trout exits the Timequake with a phrase that rallies a world which is frozen and confused as free will returns. "You were sick, but now you are well again, and there's work to do" I hope America can rally in a similar way after the upcoming election.
Vonnegut's humor returns to prime form with sections of the book generating laugh out loud moments. It was my first time reading this book, I would return to it again.
https://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/rache...
Bluebeard - 4 stars - Vonnegut's fictional auto-biography of Armenian American abstract expressionist painter Rabo Karabekian. Deft humor, insight into aging and art. Who determines what is art? Is it the artist or the audience?
Karabekian dedicates Bluebeard to a character in the novel, Circe Berman, who becomes Karabekian's muse late in life. Berman bares a similarity to a 2oth century author who like Vonnegut, was frequently the target of censorship and book banning. Characteristic Vonnegut humor throughout.
Timequake - 5 stars - Vonnegut's final novel, part auto-biography, part a treatise on the importance of the gift of free-will and a humanist philosophy. Vonnegut's protagonist, science fiction author Kilgore Trout, finally gets recognition in this final novel. Vonnegut lays out a "Timequake" of ten years in which the planet resets to 10 years prior with absolutely no change in the path of history. Free will essentially disappears for these years as all of society re-lives their lives in duplicate. Trout exits the Timequake with a phrase that rallies a world which is frozen and confused as free will returns. "You were sick, but now you are well again, and there's work to do" I hope America can rally in a similar way after the upcoming election.
Vonnegut's humor returns to prime form with sections of the book generating laugh out loud moments. It was my first time reading this book, I would return to it again.
March 28, 2016
His final 3 novels. My favorite is Hocus Pocus. Your mileage may vary and there's no good reason why it shouldn't.
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May 13, 2016Fiction V947n 2016
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews