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Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons:
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons is a rare opportunity to experience Kurt Vonnegut speaking in his own voice about his own life, his views of the world, his writing, and the writing of others. An indignant, outrageous, witty, deeply felt collection of reviews, essays, and speeches, this is a window not only into Vonnegut’s mind but also into his heart.
“A book filled with madness and truth and absurdity and self-revelation . . . [Vonnegut is] a great cosmic comedian and rattler of human skeletons, an idealist disguised as a pessimist.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Includes the following essays, speeches, and works:
“Science Fiction”
“Brief Encounters on the Inland Waterway”
“Hello, Star Vega”
“Teaching the Unteachable”
“Yes, We Have No Nirvanas”
“Fortitude”
“‘There’s a Maniac Loose Out There’”
“Excelsior! We’re Going to the Moon! Excelsior!”
“Address to the American Physical Society”
“Good Missiles, Good Manners, Good Night”
“Why They Read Hesse”
“Oversexed in Indianapolis”
“The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky”
“Biafra: A People Betrayed”
“Address to Graduating Class at Bennington College, 1970”
“Torture and Blubber”
“Address to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1971”
“Reflections on my Own Death”
“In a Manner that Must Shame God Himself”
“Thinking Unthinkable, Speaking Unspeakable”
“Address at Rededication of Wheaton College Library, 1973”
“Invite Rita Rait to America!”
“Address to P.E.N. Conference in Stockholm, 1973”
“A Political Disease”
“Playboy Interview”
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1974
230 people are currently reading
6644 people want to read
About the author
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
710 books36.9k 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 - 30 of 302 reviews
October 11, 2019
At least once a year I find myself in need to fire up the bookmobile and drive up to Indiana to visit my Uncle Kurt.
I have an eclectic literary family, wild old Uncle Bob Heinlein in Missouri, cousins Ray Bradbury and Poul Anderson, Ursula and Phil out in Berkley. Seems we can never all get together.
But driving up the Middle America street to Kurt Vonnegut’s urbane but kooky house always makes me smile.
Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons is Kurt’s 1974 collection of essays, sketches, speeches, interviews and musings. As always, his writing educates, amuses, entertains, and promotes thinking and most otherwise makes for a worthwhile reading experience.
But here’s the thing:
I call him “uncle” because his style of writing and his expressiveness has always seemed, to me at least, more or less avuncular. But being born in 1922 and a veteran of World War II, he is of my grandfather’s generation, what many have deemed “the greatest generation”.
What seems clear to me now, looking back on having read Vonnegut for about 30 years, is to highlight that he was of the greatest AMERICAN generation, and that he is of course a great American.
What stands out in these pages and from a perspective of reading much of his work is his affinity for all things American. It is no accident that this Midwestern Hoosier, of immigrant German lineage, was a WWII veteran, an upper middle class professional who came to writing later in life and who is fiercely American in his writings.
And of course as any frequent reader of Vonnegut will know, he is not of the flag waiving, parade walking, chest thumping nationalistic / jingoistic variety, Heavens no!, he is rather of the old school democratic, progressive, and critically observant category, the kind of American who sees it as his civic duty to critique when necessary.
Another observation that should be made in this humble and insufficient review, is that Vonnegut was NOT the model for Billy Pilgrim from his seminal work Slaughterhouse-Five. Kurt Vonnegut was not a bumbling, accidental soldier wearing poorly sized uniforms, not so – Vonnegut was a forward scout and a prisoner of war who was beaten by his German guards when he told them - in German – what he would do to them when he was liberated by the Russians.
What shows through so enormously, so peremptorily (though with a sly wink and a nod, a subtle Midwestern barb) was more than his Americanism but rather the greatness of his humanism. Vonnegut truly liked people and was genuinely offended by war and crime and political / corporate shenanigans and other forms of bad manners, and in his homely but funny way he poked fun at those to whom fun needs poking, to those who need a reminder about civility and decency, and with a wry smile and a long drag on the ubiquitous cigarette, asks us (like Thoreau to Emerson) why we aren’t hopping mad too.
“Joking,” he explains, “is his response to misery I couldn’t do anything about.”
So, here’s to you, Uncle Kurt, its always nice to visit.
****2019 re-read
Every time I read this book it makes me smile.
Vonnegut’s 1974 anthology contains essays and speeches (and one short work of fiction) all written in the late 60s and early 70s after Breakfast of Champions and before his novel Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!.
What stands out in all of these twenty or so chapters is Vonnegut’s easy humanism and his scathing cynicism for all things impure and unkind. A prisoner of war, Vonnegut would become famous for his pacifism. A humorous writer, he was for a time a popular choice for college graduation speeches and several of these are featured.
He sets out how, because he mentions and uses technology, he was early on categorized as a science fiction writer. This annoyed him, first of all because it was inaccurate when you compare his works to real SF writers like Asimov and Heinlein, but also because it gave some critics a reason to discount the importance of his work.
In his account of Biafra, we see first-hand the devastating political and military defeat of a proud people and a brief modern nation in Africa. Kurt Vonnegut met writer Chinua Achebe in Africa during this tragedy.
Finally, the collection ends with his 1973 Playboy interview. This was a great dialogue that sheds important light on who Vonnegut was and why he thought the way he did. Interestingly, he alluded to his “upcoming” book which was Slaptick and now I’m off to read that one.
Hi Ho!
I have an eclectic literary family, wild old Uncle Bob Heinlein in Missouri, cousins Ray Bradbury and Poul Anderson, Ursula and Phil out in Berkley. Seems we can never all get together.
But driving up the Middle America street to Kurt Vonnegut’s urbane but kooky house always makes me smile.
Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons is Kurt’s 1974 collection of essays, sketches, speeches, interviews and musings. As always, his writing educates, amuses, entertains, and promotes thinking and most otherwise makes for a worthwhile reading experience.
But here’s the thing:
I call him “uncle” because his style of writing and his expressiveness has always seemed, to me at least, more or less avuncular. But being born in 1922 and a veteran of World War II, he is of my grandfather’s generation, what many have deemed “the greatest generation”.
What seems clear to me now, looking back on having read Vonnegut for about 30 years, is to highlight that he was of the greatest AMERICAN generation, and that he is of course a great American.
What stands out in these pages and from a perspective of reading much of his work is his affinity for all things American. It is no accident that this Midwestern Hoosier, of immigrant German lineage, was a WWII veteran, an upper middle class professional who came to writing later in life and who is fiercely American in his writings.
And of course as any frequent reader of Vonnegut will know, he is not of the flag waiving, parade walking, chest thumping nationalistic / jingoistic variety, Heavens no!, he is rather of the old school democratic, progressive, and critically observant category, the kind of American who sees it as his civic duty to critique when necessary.
Another observation that should be made in this humble and insufficient review, is that Vonnegut was NOT the model for Billy Pilgrim from his seminal work Slaughterhouse-Five. Kurt Vonnegut was not a bumbling, accidental soldier wearing poorly sized uniforms, not so – Vonnegut was a forward scout and a prisoner of war who was beaten by his German guards when he told them - in German – what he would do to them when he was liberated by the Russians.
What shows through so enormously, so peremptorily (though with a sly wink and a nod, a subtle Midwestern barb) was more than his Americanism but rather the greatness of his humanism. Vonnegut truly liked people and was genuinely offended by war and crime and political / corporate shenanigans and other forms of bad manners, and in his homely but funny way he poked fun at those to whom fun needs poking, to those who need a reminder about civility and decency, and with a wry smile and a long drag on the ubiquitous cigarette, asks us (like Thoreau to Emerson) why we aren’t hopping mad too.
“Joking,” he explains, “is his response to misery I couldn’t do anything about.”
So, here’s to you, Uncle Kurt, its always nice to visit.
****2019 re-read
Every time I read this book it makes me smile.
Vonnegut’s 1974 anthology contains essays and speeches (and one short work of fiction) all written in the late 60s and early 70s after Breakfast of Champions and before his novel Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!.
What stands out in all of these twenty or so chapters is Vonnegut’s easy humanism and his scathing cynicism for all things impure and unkind. A prisoner of war, Vonnegut would become famous for his pacifism. A humorous writer, he was for a time a popular choice for college graduation speeches and several of these are featured.
He sets out how, because he mentions and uses technology, he was early on categorized as a science fiction writer. This annoyed him, first of all because it was inaccurate when you compare his works to real SF writers like Asimov and Heinlein, but also because it gave some critics a reason to discount the importance of his work.
In his account of Biafra, we see first-hand the devastating political and military defeat of a proud people and a brief modern nation in Africa. Kurt Vonnegut met writer Chinua Achebe in Africa during this tragedy.
Finally, the collection ends with his 1973 Playboy interview. This was a great dialogue that sheds important light on who Vonnegut was and why he thought the way he did. Interestingly, he alluded to his “upcoming” book which was Slaptick and now I’m off to read that one.
Hi Ho!
January 23, 2012
This collection of nonfiction demonstrates amply why so many people fall headlong in love with Vonnegut—all aspects of his cranky humanity, his unimpeachable morality, his hard-won cynicism are on show over these twenty-five pieces. The title isn’t particularly catchy: readers of Cat’s Cradle will recognise the terms which Vonnegut says represent his dabblings in nonfiction. Not so. Among the brilliance here includes his take on SF as a literary art, his ornery take on the moon landing and a loving portrayal of mystic Madame Blavatsky. The subtitle here is ‘opinions,’ and fierier pieces include ‘In a Manner That Must Shame God Himself’ which napalms the Nixon presidency, a provocative piece on Nigeria ‘Biafra: A People Betrayed,’ and a brief homage to Hunter S. Thompson ‘A Political Disease,’ where Vonnegut invents Thompson’s Disease for those betrayed by their leaders to the point of mental collapse (Thompson cured himself of his disease with a shotgun in 2005. So it goes). The inclusion of several public speeches and throwaway shavings detract from the urgency somewhat, but the Playboy interview ends the collection on a marvellously lucid note. Ah, the days Playboy was a respected literary organ! I hope Nicole Ritchie’s favourite book is Slaughterhouse-Five, I really do. A must-read for ALL Vonnegut fans. That’s you!
August 31, 2023
I can recommend this book to anyone who has read any of Kurt Vonnegut’s books. Although it is nonfiction — it is a collection of essays, interviews and public speeches made by the author — it has all of the sarcasm, satire, wit and humour that Vonnegut displays in his many works of fiction. We have opportunity here to become acquainted with Kurt Vonnegut, the man.
July 9, 2013
Wampeters--An object around which the lives of otherwise unrelated people revolve, e.g., The Holy Grail.
Foma--Harmless, comforting untruths, e.g., "Prosperity is just around the corner."
Granfalloons--A proud and meaningless association of human beings, e.g., The Veterans of Future Wars.
Taken together, the words form as good an umbrella as any for this collection of essays, book reviews and speeches written over the years by Vonnegut. This review will contain a lot of excerpts, because I can think of no better way to clue any of you uninitiated in to just how wonderfully this man writes.
The book starts off with an essay entitled Science Fiction in which Vonnegut discusses the genre. When his first book, Player Piano, was published, he was surprised that reviewers referred to him as a "science fiction writer."
I didn't know that. I supposed that I was writing a novel about life, about things I could not avoid seeing and hearing in Schenectady, a very real town, awkwardly set in the gruesome now. I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled "science fiction" ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal.
The way a person gets into this drawer, apparently, is to notice technology. The feeling persists that no one can simultaneously be a respectable writer and know how a refrigerator works, just as no gentleman wears a brown suit in the city.
In Teaching the Unteachable, he recounts his time spent teaching writer's workshops.
I tried to help those good students become what they were born to become, and to avoid intimidating them with masterpieces written by great men much older than they were. In an alarming manner of speaking, I tried to reach into their mouths without being bitten or tripping their epiglottises. Again, in a manner of speaking, I wanted to take hold of the end of a spool of ticker tape in the back of each student's throat. I meant to pull it out inch by inch, so the student and I could read it.
There are several terrific addresses to various organizations, and a moving essay about Biafra, however, I found the 1973 Playboy interview to be the most interesting. Here Vonnegut talks off the cuff about the importance of family and community, war, the 1972 Presidential Election, and his writing.
VONNEGUT: What's happened to me, though, is a standard American business story. As I said, my family's always been in the arts, so the arts to me are business. I started out with a pushcart and now I've got several supermarkets at important intersections. My career grew just the way a well-managed business is supposed to grow. After twenty years at a greasy grind, I find that all my books are in print and selling steadily. They will go on selling for a little while. Computers and printing presses are in charge. That's the American way: If the machines can find a way to use you, you will become a successful businessman. I don't care much now whether the business grows or shrinks. My kids are grown. I have no fancy uses for money. It isn't a love symbol to me.
PLAYBOY: What is a love symbol for you?
VONNEGUT: Fudge is one.
As usual, the man leaves me with a big old smile on my face.
Foma--Harmless, comforting untruths, e.g., "Prosperity is just around the corner."
Granfalloons--A proud and meaningless association of human beings, e.g., The Veterans of Future Wars.
Taken together, the words form as good an umbrella as any for this collection of essays, book reviews and speeches written over the years by Vonnegut. This review will contain a lot of excerpts, because I can think of no better way to clue any of you uninitiated in to just how wonderfully this man writes.
The book starts off with an essay entitled Science Fiction in which Vonnegut discusses the genre. When his first book, Player Piano, was published, he was surprised that reviewers referred to him as a "science fiction writer."
I didn't know that. I supposed that I was writing a novel about life, about things I could not avoid seeing and hearing in Schenectady, a very real town, awkwardly set in the gruesome now. I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled "science fiction" ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal.
The way a person gets into this drawer, apparently, is to notice technology. The feeling persists that no one can simultaneously be a respectable writer and know how a refrigerator works, just as no gentleman wears a brown suit in the city.
In Teaching the Unteachable, he recounts his time spent teaching writer's workshops.
I tried to help those good students become what they were born to become, and to avoid intimidating them with masterpieces written by great men much older than they were. In an alarming manner of speaking, I tried to reach into their mouths without being bitten or tripping their epiglottises. Again, in a manner of speaking, I wanted to take hold of the end of a spool of ticker tape in the back of each student's throat. I meant to pull it out inch by inch, so the student and I could read it.
There are several terrific addresses to various organizations, and a moving essay about Biafra, however, I found the 1973 Playboy interview to be the most interesting. Here Vonnegut talks off the cuff about the importance of family and community, war, the 1972 Presidential Election, and his writing.
VONNEGUT: What's happened to me, though, is a standard American business story. As I said, my family's always been in the arts, so the arts to me are business. I started out with a pushcart and now I've got several supermarkets at important intersections. My career grew just the way a well-managed business is supposed to grow. After twenty years at a greasy grind, I find that all my books are in print and selling steadily. They will go on selling for a little while. Computers and printing presses are in charge. That's the American way: If the machines can find a way to use you, you will become a successful businessman. I don't care much now whether the business grows or shrinks. My kids are grown. I have no fancy uses for money. It isn't a love symbol to me.
PLAYBOY: What is a love symbol for you?
VONNEGUT: Fudge is one.
As usual, the man leaves me with a big old smile on my face.
December 17, 2022
What do you do when you've read a couple disappointing books in a row? You read something else by Vonnegut. While this one wasn't as good as much of his other collections, it's still enjoyable and better than most other writing out there. Just about everything Vonnegut writes has a way of resonating as authentic and worthwhile and this is no different.
July 16, 2023
Интересен и противоречив сборник с есета на Кърт Вонегът. Някои от тях никак не ми допадат, но все пак има и добри попадения... Неговите романи, които съм прочел до момента, ми харесват много повече!
September 13, 2020
It's Kurt Vonnegut, what more can I say? This book is a collection of speeches and an interview, published in 1974. Some of the topics addressed are science fiction, teaching writing, going to the moon, Vietnam, Herman Hesse and Biafra--and more.
I'll comment on his comments on Biafra. It's forgotten now but in the 60s, a part of Nigeria seceded to form the independent Republic of Biafra. Nigeria was aided by Britain and Russia ( America was neutral) to turn its military might on Biafra and crush it. In the process, there was mass starvation. Before the end, Vonnegut flew into the doomed country to witness the ongoing atrocity.He wrote:
"My main aim will not be to move readers to voluptuous tears with tales about innocent black children dying like flies, about rape and looting and murder and all that. I will tell instead about an admirable nation that lived for less than three years."
I'll comment on his comments on Biafra. It's forgotten now but in the 60s, a part of Nigeria seceded to form the independent Republic of Biafra. Nigeria was aided by Britain and Russia ( America was neutral) to turn its military might on Biafra and crush it. In the process, there was mass starvation. Before the end, Vonnegut flew into the doomed country to witness the ongoing atrocity.He wrote:
"My main aim will not be to move readers to voluptuous tears with tales about innocent black children dying like flies, about rape and looting and murder and all that. I will tell instead about an admirable nation that lived for less than three years."
March 20, 2025
Divina idiozia è una raccolta di nove saggi, articoli e discorsi prodotti da Vonnegut tra metà anni 60 e il '73.
C'è il suo solito cinismo, ci sono un paio di testi ben riusciti (uno sul Biafra e uno sugli Usa) ma ho l'impressione che ci siano solo tracce del Vonnegut migliore e più ispirato. Chiaramente ci troviamo di fronte a testi di secondo piano, a cui Kurt non ha prestato l'attenzione che riservava alla narrativa.
Insomma, questa raccolta la consiglierei solo ai veri ammiratori di Vonnegut, per tutti gli altri: leggete i romanzi!
C'è il suo solito cinismo, ci sono un paio di testi ben riusciti (uno sul Biafra e uno sugli Usa) ma ho l'impressione che ci siano solo tracce del Vonnegut migliore e più ispirato. Chiaramente ci troviamo di fronte a testi di secondo piano, a cui Kurt non ha prestato l'attenzione che riservava alla narrativa.
Insomma, questa raccolta la consiglierei solo ai veri ammiratori di Vonnegut, per tutti gli altri: leggete i romanzi!
November 8, 2025
Essay collections are notoriously haphazard beasts. The question looms, first, of how to organize such a book, if the author indeed has so much acceptable material that an editor could siphon together a comprehensible narrative or theme, or perhaps just a Pollockian splatter of all the recent sewage splurged onto the presses of local newspapers and tabloid magazines. Here, in the 1974 curiously titled Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (readers of Cat's Cradle may recognize these nonsense words), Kurt Vonnegut compiles speeches, political commentary, local interest journalism, and even a screenplay short into an astounding work of ironic and idealistic pessimism. But unlike the novels that made Vonnegut such a household name, this work represents the truth of the man himself, and Vonnegut indirectly admits such a notion in the preface when recounting his receiving of gruff advice prior to delivering a speech: "People are seldom interested in the actual content of a speech. They simply want to learn from your tone and gestures and expressions whether or not you are an honest man".
Despite several entries of self-deprecation, like how writing "allow{s} mediocre people who are patient and industrious to revise their stupidity, to edit themselves into something like intelligence" and admissions like "everything I say is horseshit", I have found Kurt Vonnegut to be an admirable and honest man.
The various works that populate Wampeters were all published between the mid-1960's and 1973, dogged by the labyrinthine Vietnam War and the utter turbulence of Richard Milhous Nixon making a laughingstock of the US Executive Branch. Such political analyses as seen in this book, over 50 years old at the time of review, might appear to be long outdated, and yet there is a constancy of prescience on Vonnegut's Nixon commentary that demands direct comparison to the America of 2025:
"Mr. Nixon is a minor character in this book. He is the first President to hate the American people and all they stand for. He believes so vibrantly in his own purity, although he has committed crimes which are hideous... He is a useful man in that he has shown us that our Constitution is a defective document, which makes a childlike assumption that we would never elect a President who disliked us so. So we must amend the Constitution in order that we can more easily eject such a person from office and even put him in jail."
"But the lessons Nixon has taught us have been so mean. He's taught us to resent the poor for not solving their own problems. He's taught us to like prosperous people better than unprosperous people. He could make us so humane and optimistic with a single television appearance".
As a veteran of World War Two, known for being a prisoner of war in Dresden during the devastating Allied bombing of the city, Vonnegut laments the continued "illusion of purity" absorbed by the U.S. in the wake of such a noble act as fighting the Nazis, reminding us that doing a good thing once does not make one good for all time: "When we went into the war, we felt our Government was a respecter of life, careful about not injuring civilians and that sort of thing. Well, Dresden had no tactical value; it was a city of civilians. Yet the Allies bombed it until it burned and melted. And then they lied about it. All that was startling to us. But it doesn't startle anyone now". Toss in the double quagmires of Korea and Vietnam and it's no surprise that Vonnegut adopted his wry defense mechanism of wacky humor to beat back the jaded waves of cynicism. How it must have pained this veteran of the Battle of the Bulge to write "we have made our soldiers ghastly by giving them ghastly things to do".
Even in those ominous times, Vonnegut remained steadfastly pacifist and he preached his gentle ideals of increasing community and staving off endemic American loneliness to all those who would hear him speak. The crux here, perhaps not a definable term in 1974, is the slow turn of Neoliberal ideology pervading the world through ever-increasing bouts of individualism and competition, and yet for Vonnegut, all that was required to reverse such a course is to "become less selfish than we are". Easier said than done.
The standout piece of this collection may prove to be Vonnegut's on-ground reporting of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), of the extermination of the secessionist Republic of Biafra. Featuring a grim cameo from Chinua Achebe, Vonnegut and two other Americans journey through Biafran territory, watching as the joint Nigerian, British, and Soviet coalition bombed and starved a noble people into submission. He describes his time in Biafra as "a free trip to Auschwitz when the ovens were still going full blast" and the frustrations of sheer futility are palpable on every page. This read is not for the faint of heart, and seems to have remained an indelible stain in Vonnegut's memory.
Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons is a truly vital confession of passion for the good, harrumphing in the patronizing face of powerful interests and calling out blatant cultural ironies with his trademark satiric wit. Mixed in to the collection are a set of fun and well-written newspaper articles of eclectic subjects, many of which can be passed over when returning to this book year after year.
Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 84, despite his 70-year history of smoking Pall Mall cigarettes, and yet it feels that he is still with us today, a grumpy man holding on to the hope of a brighter and more connected world. It would be improper to conclude this review with anything other than Kurt's own words, so here is the final passage of his "Reflections on My Own Death":
When I think about my own death, I don't console myself with the idea that my descendants and my books and all that will live on. Anybody with any sense knows that the whole solar system will go up like a celluloid collar by-and-by. I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment lasts forever."
Despite several entries of self-deprecation, like how writing "allow{s} mediocre people who are patient and industrious to revise their stupidity, to edit themselves into something like intelligence" and admissions like "everything I say is horseshit", I have found Kurt Vonnegut to be an admirable and honest man.
The various works that populate Wampeters were all published between the mid-1960's and 1973, dogged by the labyrinthine Vietnam War and the utter turbulence of Richard Milhous Nixon making a laughingstock of the US Executive Branch. Such political analyses as seen in this book, over 50 years old at the time of review, might appear to be long outdated, and yet there is a constancy of prescience on Vonnegut's Nixon commentary that demands direct comparison to the America of 2025:
"Mr. Nixon is a minor character in this book. He is the first President to hate the American people and all they stand for. He believes so vibrantly in his own purity, although he has committed crimes which are hideous... He is a useful man in that he has shown us that our Constitution is a defective document, which makes a childlike assumption that we would never elect a President who disliked us so. So we must amend the Constitution in order that we can more easily eject such a person from office and even put him in jail."
"But the lessons Nixon has taught us have been so mean. He's taught us to resent the poor for not solving their own problems. He's taught us to like prosperous people better than unprosperous people. He could make us so humane and optimistic with a single television appearance".
As a veteran of World War Two, known for being a prisoner of war in Dresden during the devastating Allied bombing of the city, Vonnegut laments the continued "illusion of purity" absorbed by the U.S. in the wake of such a noble act as fighting the Nazis, reminding us that doing a good thing once does not make one good for all time: "When we went into the war, we felt our Government was a respecter of life, careful about not injuring civilians and that sort of thing. Well, Dresden had no tactical value; it was a city of civilians. Yet the Allies bombed it until it burned and melted. And then they lied about it. All that was startling to us. But it doesn't startle anyone now". Toss in the double quagmires of Korea and Vietnam and it's no surprise that Vonnegut adopted his wry defense mechanism of wacky humor to beat back the jaded waves of cynicism. How it must have pained this veteran of the Battle of the Bulge to write "we have made our soldiers ghastly by giving them ghastly things to do".
Even in those ominous times, Vonnegut remained steadfastly pacifist and he preached his gentle ideals of increasing community and staving off endemic American loneliness to all those who would hear him speak. The crux here, perhaps not a definable term in 1974, is the slow turn of Neoliberal ideology pervading the world through ever-increasing bouts of individualism and competition, and yet for Vonnegut, all that was required to reverse such a course is to "become less selfish than we are". Easier said than done.
The standout piece of this collection may prove to be Vonnegut's on-ground reporting of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), of the extermination of the secessionist Republic of Biafra. Featuring a grim cameo from Chinua Achebe, Vonnegut and two other Americans journey through Biafran territory, watching as the joint Nigerian, British, and Soviet coalition bombed and starved a noble people into submission. He describes his time in Biafra as "a free trip to Auschwitz when the ovens were still going full blast" and the frustrations of sheer futility are palpable on every page. This read is not for the faint of heart, and seems to have remained an indelible stain in Vonnegut's memory.
Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons is a truly vital confession of passion for the good, harrumphing in the patronizing face of powerful interests and calling out blatant cultural ironies with his trademark satiric wit. Mixed in to the collection are a set of fun and well-written newspaper articles of eclectic subjects, many of which can be passed over when returning to this book year after year.
Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 84, despite his 70-year history of smoking Pall Mall cigarettes, and yet it feels that he is still with us today, a grumpy man holding on to the hope of a brighter and more connected world. It would be improper to conclude this review with anything other than Kurt's own words, so here is the final passage of his "Reflections on My Own Death":
When I think about my own death, I don't console myself with the idea that my descendants and my books and all that will live on. Anybody with any sense knows that the whole solar system will go up like a celluloid collar by-and-by. I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment lasts forever."
February 9, 2024
Малко наивен милият Кърт.
January 13, 2012
Nothing less than five stars will do for this one.
I wanted to have a better concept of Vonnegut’s personality in preparation for reading Kurt Vonnegut’s biography “And So It Goes.” I thought a book of non-fiction by KV would be appropriate so I revisited this after nearly 40 years since my first reading. I remembered virtually nothing from my original read. My intent was to read a chapter now and then and to alternate with several books of short stories and non-fiction I’ve been reading. After a short period I realized my attention was exclusively with Vonnegut and devoted all of my attention to this volume. I found Vonnegut’s essays and lectures as fascinating as his fiction, a trait he shares with Jorge Luis Borges.
I was struck by how much Vonnegut’s thinking paralleled my own (If only I could write as well!) and by how compellingly he spoke for so many of my generation. Through all of this his signature mix of poignancy and humor, so typical of his fiction, was present at all times. Among the topics discussed are the Vietnam War, the Biafran tragedy, and the presidential campaign of 1972, particularly relevant in this election year and amazingly timely and prescient.
Poignancy and humor
Timely and prescient.
I wanted to have a better concept of Vonnegut’s personality in preparation for reading Kurt Vonnegut’s biography “And So It Goes.” I thought a book of non-fiction by KV would be appropriate so I revisited this after nearly 40 years since my first reading. I remembered virtually nothing from my original read. My intent was to read a chapter now and then and to alternate with several books of short stories and non-fiction I’ve been reading. After a short period I realized my attention was exclusively with Vonnegut and devoted all of my attention to this volume. I found Vonnegut’s essays and lectures as fascinating as his fiction, a trait he shares with Jorge Luis Borges.
I was struck by how much Vonnegut’s thinking paralleled my own (If only I could write as well!) and by how compellingly he spoke for so many of my generation. Through all of this his signature mix of poignancy and humor, so typical of his fiction, was present at all times. Among the topics discussed are the Vietnam War, the Biafran tragedy, and the presidential campaign of 1972, particularly relevant in this election year and amazingly timely and prescient.
Poignancy and humor
Timely and prescient.
February 4, 2020
The standout article in this collection is Biafra: A People Betrayed. "Grandpa" Kurt goes full on serious and writes an achingly heartsick piece about the suffering of the Biafrans. Where we're used to his japery and bile venting, he is tender and compassionate towards this tiny fledgling nation, and I feel this has more impact than anything else in this volume.
I've kind of reached saturation point with his non-fiction, but then I think I've read most of it now. It's all excellent but I've read several of the anecdotes more than once now. I'm going to steer towards his fiction again, for a while.
It's a decent starting place if you haven't read any of his non-fiction before. You just have to remember that this collection was published in the early 70s. Do it, though! You won't regret it.
I've kind of reached saturation point with his non-fiction, but then I think I've read most of it now. It's all excellent but I've read several of the anecdotes more than once now. I'm going to steer towards his fiction again, for a while.
It's a decent starting place if you haven't read any of his non-fiction before. You just have to remember that this collection was published in the early 70s. Do it, though! You won't regret it.
March 16, 2018
“You understand, of course, that everything I say is horseshit.” (Playboy interview)
My plan was to dip in and out of this one, but sometimes I let too many days go in between. It took me forever to finish, and as a result, I got kind of tired of it. Still a decent collection, though. I liked the speeches and book reviews (that KV wrote of other books) the most.
My plan was to dip in and out of this one, but sometimes I let too many days go in between. It took me forever to finish, and as a result, I got kind of tired of it. Still a decent collection, though. I liked the speeches and book reviews (that KV wrote of other books) the most.
December 11, 2018
I loved this book because I love Kurt Vonnegut and reading his opinions made me feel closer to him as a person, which may sound weird, but I really admire him. I also really enjoyed this book because, even though it was a book of his opinions, he wrote them in a fictional way. I really liked the story "Fortitude" because it was a story about the evils of technology (at least, that's how I read it) and how people succumb to it without realizing that it's happening. I also really liked his interview with playboy at the very end of the novel... it really taught me a lot about him as not only an author, but as a person as well. Everything I learned about him made me love him even more and I would totally recommend this novel to all Vonnegut lovers.
May 2, 2012
I like Kurt Vonnegut not only for his humorous and imaginative novels and short stories but also for his politics, his values. Not only has he added his name to many a worthy petition and appeared on many a plstform, but when The Nation, the oldest news weekly magazine in the USA, was in financial trouble, Vonnegut, Doctorow, Vidal and other writers bailed them out without demanding editorial control. This collection represents something of where Vonnegut came from and what he believed in, much of it, in my opinion, simple common sense informed by humane sympathy.
September 16, 2023
I love this guy. this is the best. Hes got a little play in here. Stories. Interviews. Speeches. Such a neat guy. I feel like a little worm who got to hang out in his brain.
June 24, 2025
love love loved this, especially the one about Biafra
August 22, 2022
If you have any interest in this sad, goofy man, you will enjoy this book.
March 25, 2025
shoutout Dr. Gurumurthy. you were right about a lot more things in than I’d have given you credit for in high school. thanks for getting me where i am literature-wise.
May 15, 2025
este hombre es lo más cercano que tengo a un maestro espiritual. leer lo que piensa sin el disfraz de la ficción es otra experiencia. hubiera dado lo que sea por una conversación con él. me quedo con el simulacro de correspondencia que inauguraré con mis propias palabras.
June 29, 2016
"And it strikes me as gruesome and comical that in our culture we have an expectation that a man can always solve his problems. There is an implication that if you just have a little more energy, a little more fight, the problem can always be solved. This is so untrue that it makes me want to cry - or laugh."
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (1964 - 1974) is - as Kurt Vonnegut describes it himself - "a collection of some of the reviews and essays I have written, a few speeches I have made." This very uneven collection, in which the "meh" pieces overshadow the interesting ones, is a rather disappointing mix of deep insights, well-aimed bitter sarcasm, trademark Vonnegut's pessimism, aimless ramblings, and even outright failed pieces of writing.
One of the best essays, Excelsior! We're Going to the Moon! Excelsior!, is about the space program, its tremendous costs and meager benefits. More importantly, though, it is about profanation of great human ideas and iconic symbols of progress by commercialism through "schlock merchandising schemes" of advertising. I also like the Address to Graduating Class at Bennington College, 1970. It is a well argued, grim manifesto of pessimism that contains statements like "Everything is going to become unimaginably worse, and never get better again", where the objects of author's sarcasm are well deserving of scorn. The piece about the war in Biafra is, in turn, extremely serious, dramatic, and as moving as the unforgettable Slaughterhouse Five
The story Teaching the Unteachable satirizes summer writing schools; Mr. Vonnegut, who was an instructor at one of these schools, states the obvious "You can't teach people to write well. Writing well is something God lets you do or declines to let you do." On the other hand, I am completely unable to "get" the short play Fortitude that features, among others, a Dr. Frankenstein. As much as I have been trying to give the benefit of doubt to one of my favorite writers, I don't think the text makes much sense. One of the pieces in the collection is Mr. Vonnegut's interview for the Playboy magazine. Playboy used to have some top-notch conversations with famous people, alas the one here, rambling, unfocused, and superficial, is certainly not one of them. The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky is another aimless piece.
So while I agree with Mr. Vonnegut's deeply pessimistic opinion about many aspects of our society, primarily about the commercialism that soils every lofty idea it encounters, I am unable to recommend the collection. Let's at least end with another neat quote:
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (1964 - 1974) is - as Kurt Vonnegut describes it himself - "a collection of some of the reviews and essays I have written, a few speeches I have made." This very uneven collection, in which the "meh" pieces overshadow the interesting ones, is a rather disappointing mix of deep insights, well-aimed bitter sarcasm, trademark Vonnegut's pessimism, aimless ramblings, and even outright failed pieces of writing.
One of the best essays, Excelsior! We're Going to the Moon! Excelsior!, is about the space program, its tremendous costs and meager benefits. More importantly, though, it is about profanation of great human ideas and iconic symbols of progress by commercialism through "schlock merchandising schemes" of advertising. I also like the Address to Graduating Class at Bennington College, 1970. It is a well argued, grim manifesto of pessimism that contains statements like "Everything is going to become unimaginably worse, and never get better again", where the objects of author's sarcasm are well deserving of scorn. The piece about the war in Biafra is, in turn, extremely serious, dramatic, and as moving as the unforgettable Slaughterhouse Five
The story Teaching the Unteachable satirizes summer writing schools; Mr. Vonnegut, who was an instructor at one of these schools, states the obvious "You can't teach people to write well. Writing well is something God lets you do or declines to let you do." On the other hand, I am completely unable to "get" the short play Fortitude that features, among others, a Dr. Frankenstein. As much as I have been trying to give the benefit of doubt to one of my favorite writers, I don't think the text makes much sense. One of the pieces in the collection is Mr. Vonnegut's interview for the Playboy magazine. Playboy used to have some top-notch conversations with famous people, alas the one here, rambling, unfocused, and superficial, is certainly not one of them. The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky is another aimless piece.
So while I agree with Mr. Vonnegut's deeply pessimistic opinion about many aspects of our society, primarily about the commercialism that soils every lofty idea it encounters, I am unable to recommend the collection. Let's at least end with another neat quote:
"Earth is such a pretty blue and pink and white pearl in the pictures NASA sent me. It looks so *clean*. You can't see all the hungry, angry Earthlings down there - and the smoke and the sewage and trash and sophisticated weaponry."Two stars.
November 4, 2020
Vonnegut is different in nonfiction - he seems uncomfortable outside his thinly veiled version of our real world. And yet, he is very good, especially in the interview at the end. He’s a bit more manic, a bit more messy, and a bit more human in ways I might not have known from his meticulously dry fiction. I find that I love him now as a person, rather than an oracle. Skip the first couple pieces and go back to them after you’ve had a taste of the better stuff - even a big fan might struggle to enjoy exacting descriptions of a yacht.
August 24, 2018
So full of interesting thoughts and insights. You get transported to America during the Vietnam War, to Biafra during its war, to the election of Nixon. But many of the ideas have even more punch today, in a merciless kind of way. It's a collection of essays, speeches and an interview, so it's not entirely even, but there are many, many parts that made me pause and think. What more could you want from a book?
September 18, 2017
Kurt Vonnegut met Chinua Achebe in Africa? I found this so fascinating.
I also really enjoyed the little review of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.
I also really enjoyed the little review of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.
April 25, 2024
“Thinking the guy up ahead knows that he’s doing is the most dangerous religion there is.”
July 25, 2016
I began this week with a collection of essays by and interviews with the late Kurt Vonnegut entitled Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons. The title confused my friendly community librarian. Vonnegut introduces the book with an explanation:
"Dear Reader: The title of this book is composed of three words from my novel Cat's Cradle. A "wampeter" is an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve. The Holy Grail would be a case in point. "Foma" are harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls. An example: "Prosperity is just around the corner." A "granfalloon" is a proud and meaningless association of human beings. Taken together, the words form as good an umbrella as any for this collection of some of the reviews and essays I've written, a few of the speeches I made.">
The book is difficult to comment on, particularly the first half. Reading Vonnegut is like making your way through a literary funhouse -- you don't really know where you're going and the rules, if any, are completely unknown to you. So unpredictable is Vonnegut that when he wrote a chapter on his experience living in Biafra, I thought he had made up a country to make some human-interest point. As it turns out, Biafra was a real country. The book is a collection of various pieces of Vonnegut's work -- a few speeches, a book review, a short play, a travel account, and a few essays. Vonnegut comments: "It is, after all, a sort of map of places I've supposedly been and things I've supposedly thought during a period of about twenty years. I have arranged these clues in a supposedly chronological order. If time is the straight and uniform string of beads most people think it is, and if I have matured gracefully, then the second half of this book should be better than the first half."
It is difficult to characterize a compilation of miscellaneous works like this, but I did notice that a common idea seemed to penetrate Vonnegut's writing and interviews in the second half of the book -- the idea that human beings are meant to live in small social groups and that we are uncomfortable in other situations.
"Until recent times, you know, human beings usually had a permanent community of relatives. They had dozens of homes to go to So when a married couple had a fight, one or they other could go to a house three doors down and stay with a close relative until he was feeling tender again. Or if a kid got so fed up with his parents that he couldn't stand it, he could march over to his uncle's for a while. And this is no longer possible Each family is locked into its little box. The neighbors aren't relatives. There aren't other houses where people can go to and be cared for. When Nixon is pondering what's happening to America -- "Where have the old values gone?" -- and all that -- the answer is perfectly simple. We're lonesome. We don't have enough friends or relatives anymore. And we would if we lived in real communities. [...] Human beings will be happier -- not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That's my utopia. That's what I want for me."
The above quotation is from his Playboy interview where he articulates this idea most directly. It reminds me of a lecture I heard recently by James Kunstler on "Life After Peak Oil": he predicts that as the automobile becomes a smaller part of our lives, communities will become smaller and life will become more local again -- back to small, intimate communities. Outside of this idea that pops up several times in the later half of the book, there's not that much cohesion to the book outside of the broad title he gave it. There are a number of pieces of interest:
-"Science Fiction": Vonnegut recalls that he is categorized as a science fiction author simply because some of his stories feature technology. "I didn't know that. I supposed I was writing a novel about life. [...] I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled "science fiction" ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
-"Yes, We Have No Nirvanas": Vonnegut writes about the rise of transcendental meditation. According to him, he looked into it after his wife and daughter became Transcendentals. He writes about his efforts to find out what it was about, and the essay turns into a critique of the "religion-that-is-not-a-religion-but-a-technique" and the Mariashi that created it. I found it humorous.
-"Excelsior! We're Going to the Moon! Excelsior!": He writes on the space program's reception with people and science fiction. He quotes Isaac Asimov's perception that there are three stages to science fiction: adventure dominant, technology dominant, and sociology dominant.
-"The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky": an essay on one of the founders of Theosophy that proved to be interesting.
-"Biafra: A People Betrayed": This is Vonnegut's account of his experiences in Biafra, before it was conquered by the Nigerian army. I actually thought this essay was about a fictional place.
-"Address to Graduation Class at Bennington College", 1970. Vonnegut describes becoming a cultural pessimist and instructs the graduating class to go back to believing that humanity is at the center of the universe, the greatest concern of the gods: perhaps then they will be motivated to treat people decently. He also urges them to not buy into the idea that their generation must change the world: he tells them to relax, to "skylark", to enjoy life. One day they will be in charge, and then they can worry about saving the planet.
-"Address to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1971": Vonnegut expounds on his idea that we are made of nothing more than chemicals that make us yearn for community.
How lucky you are to be here today, for I can explain everything. Sigmund Freud admitted that he did not know what women wanted. I know what they want. Cosmopolitan magazine says they want orgasms, which can only be a partial answer at best. Here is what women really want: they want lives in folk societies, wherein everyone is a friendly relative and no act or object is without holiness. Chemicals make them want that. Chemicals make us all want that. Chemicals make us furious when we are treated as things rather than persons. When anything happens to us which would not happen to us in a folk society, our chemicals make us feel like fish out of water. Our chemicals demand that we get back into water again. If we become increasingly wild and preposterous in modern times -- well, so do fish on river banks, for a little while."
-"In a Manner that Must Shame God Himself: reflections on politics.
-"Address at Rededication of Wheateon College Library, 1973": Vonnegut writes on the importance of books and the meaning of social narratives.
-Playboy Interview: one of the longest parts of the book.
As you can see, there's a lot here. I rather enjoyed the experience of reading it, particularly the interviews and speeches. I'll end this with one of my favorite quotations from the book. I don't know why I like it, but I do.
"You have called me a humanist, and I have looked into humanism some, and I have found that a humanist is a person who is tremendously interested in human beings. My dog is a humanist. His name is Sandy. He is a sheep dog. I know that Sandy is a dud name for a sheep dog, but there it is."
"Dear Reader: The title of this book is composed of three words from my novel Cat's Cradle. A "wampeter" is an object around which the lives of many otherwise unrelated people may revolve. The Holy Grail would be a case in point. "Foma" are harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls. An example: "Prosperity is just around the corner." A "granfalloon" is a proud and meaningless association of human beings. Taken together, the words form as good an umbrella as any for this collection of some of the reviews and essays I've written, a few of the speeches I made.">
The book is difficult to comment on, particularly the first half. Reading Vonnegut is like making your way through a literary funhouse -- you don't really know where you're going and the rules, if any, are completely unknown to you. So unpredictable is Vonnegut that when he wrote a chapter on his experience living in Biafra, I thought he had made up a country to make some human-interest point. As it turns out, Biafra was a real country. The book is a collection of various pieces of Vonnegut's work -- a few speeches, a book review, a short play, a travel account, and a few essays. Vonnegut comments: "It is, after all, a sort of map of places I've supposedly been and things I've supposedly thought during a period of about twenty years. I have arranged these clues in a supposedly chronological order. If time is the straight and uniform string of beads most people think it is, and if I have matured gracefully, then the second half of this book should be better than the first half."
It is difficult to characterize a compilation of miscellaneous works like this, but I did notice that a common idea seemed to penetrate Vonnegut's writing and interviews in the second half of the book -- the idea that human beings are meant to live in small social groups and that we are uncomfortable in other situations.
"Until recent times, you know, human beings usually had a permanent community of relatives. They had dozens of homes to go to So when a married couple had a fight, one or they other could go to a house three doors down and stay with a close relative until he was feeling tender again. Or if a kid got so fed up with his parents that he couldn't stand it, he could march over to his uncle's for a while. And this is no longer possible Each family is locked into its little box. The neighbors aren't relatives. There aren't other houses where people can go to and be cared for. When Nixon is pondering what's happening to America -- "Where have the old values gone?" -- and all that -- the answer is perfectly simple. We're lonesome. We don't have enough friends or relatives anymore. And we would if we lived in real communities. [...] Human beings will be happier -- not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That's my utopia. That's what I want for me."
The above quotation is from his Playboy interview where he articulates this idea most directly. It reminds me of a lecture I heard recently by James Kunstler on "Life After Peak Oil": he predicts that as the automobile becomes a smaller part of our lives, communities will become smaller and life will become more local again -- back to small, intimate communities. Outside of this idea that pops up several times in the later half of the book, there's not that much cohesion to the book outside of the broad title he gave it. There are a number of pieces of interest:
-"Science Fiction": Vonnegut recalls that he is categorized as a science fiction author simply because some of his stories feature technology. "I didn't know that. I supposed I was writing a novel about life. [...] I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled "science fiction" ever since, and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
-"Yes, We Have No Nirvanas": Vonnegut writes about the rise of transcendental meditation. According to him, he looked into it after his wife and daughter became Transcendentals. He writes about his efforts to find out what it was about, and the essay turns into a critique of the "religion-that-is-not-a-religion-but-a-technique" and the Mariashi that created it. I found it humorous.
-"Excelsior! We're Going to the Moon! Excelsior!": He writes on the space program's reception with people and science fiction. He quotes Isaac Asimov's perception that there are three stages to science fiction: adventure dominant, technology dominant, and sociology dominant.
-"The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky": an essay on one of the founders of Theosophy that proved to be interesting.
-"Biafra: A People Betrayed": This is Vonnegut's account of his experiences in Biafra, before it was conquered by the Nigerian army. I actually thought this essay was about a fictional place.
-"Address to Graduation Class at Bennington College", 1970. Vonnegut describes becoming a cultural pessimist and instructs the graduating class to go back to believing that humanity is at the center of the universe, the greatest concern of the gods: perhaps then they will be motivated to treat people decently. He also urges them to not buy into the idea that their generation must change the world: he tells them to relax, to "skylark", to enjoy life. One day they will be in charge, and then they can worry about saving the planet.
-"Address to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1971": Vonnegut expounds on his idea that we are made of nothing more than chemicals that make us yearn for community.
How lucky you are to be here today, for I can explain everything. Sigmund Freud admitted that he did not know what women wanted. I know what they want. Cosmopolitan magazine says they want orgasms, which can only be a partial answer at best. Here is what women really want: they want lives in folk societies, wherein everyone is a friendly relative and no act or object is without holiness. Chemicals make them want that. Chemicals make us all want that. Chemicals make us furious when we are treated as things rather than persons. When anything happens to us which would not happen to us in a folk society, our chemicals make us feel like fish out of water. Our chemicals demand that we get back into water again. If we become increasingly wild and preposterous in modern times -- well, so do fish on river banks, for a little while."
-"In a Manner that Must Shame God Himself: reflections on politics.
-"Address at Rededication of Wheateon College Library, 1973": Vonnegut writes on the importance of books and the meaning of social narratives.
-Playboy Interview: one of the longest parts of the book.
As you can see, there's a lot here. I rather enjoyed the experience of reading it, particularly the interviews and speeches. I'll end this with one of my favorite quotations from the book. I don't know why I like it, but I do.
"You have called me a humanist, and I have looked into humanism some, and I have found that a humanist is a person who is tremendously interested in human beings. My dog is a humanist. His name is Sandy. He is a sheep dog. I know that Sandy is a dud name for a sheep dog, but there it is."
January 28, 2020
Being one of the last Vonnegut books I've yet to read, I certainly knew what I might be able to expect going into it. I was pleasantly nonplussed. All of these essays, speeches, and one screen play had warmth and wit indicative of anything else Vonnegut has ever written. Covering contemporary news and culture (of the 70's), thoughts on writing, and some strange outlying topics such as the Mother of American mysticism and his daughter's acquaintance who ended up being a serial killer, this book is all over the map while encapsulating Vonnegut's world view quite well.
Some excellent quotes:
"This is what I find most encouraging about the writing trades: They allow mediocre people who are patient and industrious to revise their stupidity, to edit themselves into something like intelligence."
"One trouble, it seems to me, is that the majority of the people who rule us, who have our money and power, are lawyers or military men. The lawyers want to talk our problems out of existence. The military men want us to find the bad guys and put bullets through their brains. These are not always the best solutions- particularly in the fields of sewage disposal and birth control."
Some excellent quotes:
"This is what I find most encouraging about the writing trades: They allow mediocre people who are patient and industrious to revise their stupidity, to edit themselves into something like intelligence."
"One trouble, it seems to me, is that the majority of the people who rule us, who have our money and power, are lawyers or military men. The lawyers want to talk our problems out of existence. The military men want us to find the bad guys and put bullets through their brains. These are not always the best solutions- particularly in the fields of sewage disposal and birth control."
March 4, 2021
A short ride with Vonnegut's thoughts on everything from science fiction writing, to genocide and civil war, to loneliness, to the Republican party, hippies, to life, to growing up and not growing up, the Universe and everything in between. The sort of ride where you are lulled to a soft comfort only to suddenly jump up and realise you're sitting on a shap object and you're seeing things differently and are awakened from the bittersweet reverie Vonnegut put you in the first place. This collection of short essays, addresses and finally a longer interview with Playboy make a great little glimpse into Vonnegut's soul halfway through his own more special than most journey through life in the mid 1970s.
"I honestly believe I am tripping through time. Tomorow I will be three years old again. The day after that I will be sixty-three."
"This book is full of belly laughs, but I am suspicious of belly laughs as entirely happy experiences. The only way to get a belly laugh, I've found, is to undermine a surface joke with more unhappiness that most mortals can bear."
Vonnegut is the master of doing just that.
"I honestly believe I am tripping through time. Tomorow I will be three years old again. The day after that I will be sixty-three."
"This book is full of belly laughs, but I am suspicious of belly laughs as entirely happy experiences. The only way to get a belly laugh, I've found, is to undermine a surface joke with more unhappiness that most mortals can bear."
Vonnegut is the master of doing just that.
May 29, 2020
Another pandemic Vonnegut read I first read and taught decades ago.
Uneven is quality and depth, a number of pieces really resonated with me - the Preface, Yes, We Have No Nirvanas,The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky, Biafra: A People Betrayed, Playboy Interview, Torture and Blubber, Reflections on My Own Death.
So drawn to Vonnegut's willingness to face up, fess up, tell the truth and broadcast it. Seek a companion like Kilgore Trout. Seek light in darkness. Don't give up....unless it's in your chemistry.
Not enough time to tackle each piece now.
Essential to think again about truth and falsity, again in 2020.
Uneven is quality and depth, a number of pieces really resonated with me - the Preface, Yes, We Have No Nirvanas,The Mysterious Madame Blavatsky, Biafra: A People Betrayed, Playboy Interview, Torture and Blubber, Reflections on My Own Death.
So drawn to Vonnegut's willingness to face up, fess up, tell the truth and broadcast it. Seek a companion like Kilgore Trout. Seek light in darkness. Don't give up....unless it's in your chemistry.
Not enough time to tackle each piece now.
Essential to think again about truth and falsity, again in 2020.
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