/r/Vonnegut

Photograph via snooOG

This subreddit is for discussing the life, works, and legacy of Kurt Vonnegut, beloved author.

About

This subreddit is for discussing the life, works, and legacy of Kurt Vonnegut, beloved author.

Biography

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was a 20th-century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Breakfast of Champions (1973) blend satire, gallows humor, and science fiction. As a citizen he was a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a critical pacifist intellectual. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.

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Subreddit Rules

1. No Trolling

"An Internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, in fact, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response."

Trolling will result in an immediate ban.

2. No Bigotry/Hate Speech

There is a zero tolerance policy of any form of bigotry. We recognize that there will inevitably be differences of opinion over political manners, but that will not excuse any form of bigotry to include, but not limited to racism, misogyny, ableism, or anti-LGBT+ sentiments.

Violations of this rule will result in removal and a stern warning. Repeat incidences will result in an immediate ban.

3. No Personal Attacks or Insults

This is a community of fans of the great author, Kurt Vonnegut. It is intended to be a safe space and an environment of mutual respect. As such, all members will be treated with dignity and respect.

Personal attacks and insults to other members of this sub will not be tolerated.

Violations will result in a warning and removal. Repeated violations will result in permanent ban.

4. Stay (Mostly) On-Topic

Posts should be, at minimum, tangentially related to the works of Kurt Vonnegut or speculative fiction.

(This rule is flexible, based on quality of content and level of interest among members of the sub.)

Bibliography

Novels

  • Player Piano (1952)

  • The Sirens of Titan (1959)

  • Mother Night (1961)

  • Cat's Cradle (1963)

  • God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine (1965)

  • Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969)

  • Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday (1973)

  • Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! (1976)

  • Jailbird (1979)

  • Deadeye Dick (1982)

  • Galápagos: A Novel (1985

  • Bluebeard (1987)

  • Hocus Pocus (1990)

  • Timequake (1997)


Short Fiction Collections

  • Canary in a Cathouse (1961)

  • Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)

  • Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (1999)

  • God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)

  • Armageddon in Retrospect and Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace (2008)

  • Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction (2009)

  • While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction (2011)


Non-Fiction Collections

  • Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (Opinions) (1974)

  • Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage (1981)

  • Nothing Is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays (1984)

  • Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage (1991)

  • A Man Without a Country (2005)


Plays

  • Penelope (1960)

  • The Very First Christmas Morning (1962)

  • Fortitude (1968)

  • Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971)

  • Requiem (1987)

  • Make Up Your Mind (1993)

  • Miss Temptation (1993)

  • L'Histoire du Soldat (1993)

/r/Vonnegut

15,671 Subscribers

0

Is tralfamador a drug?

It sounds suspiciously like a 1950/60s-era drug name.

And it seems to me that the alien abduction stuff is just a stand-in for psychotic episodes or drug-induced hallucinations and fantasies, etc.

The author did spend some time in an instutution I think. Little featureless saucer-shaped pills take you off to far-away lands.

10 Comments
2024/11/01
13:59 UTC

87

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s dazzling tree in the family plot today

I have taken daily walks through Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis for years. It’s gigantic, 555 acres, the third largest non-governmental cemetery in the United States. It’s beautiful, with gigantic trees and wildlife, and serves as a relaxing natural expanse within the city limits.

Today was “beautiful and nothing hurt,” the leaves are turning so I thought maybe this community would enjoy seeing the Kurt Vonnegut dedicated tree at the cemetery in all its autumnal glory. It is smack in the middle of the family plot, where all the Indianapolis Vonneguts found their final resting places. It was crazy dazzling today, I was there near sunset so the western light made that tree GLOW.

I’ve read here and there that KV’s ashes were buried with his parents there, but I’ve read other accounts that claim different, it’s all vague and that’s just fine. I like the idea of the tree better than a marker with ashes and bones beneath.

4 Comments
2024/10/31
02:23 UTC

8

Pointy Sirens of Titan question

My question is not fully formed, but the message that Salo must carry and share is simply a dot meaning “Greetings.” Rumfoord talks about saying goodbye as a “punctual manner of speaking,” and the text defines being punctual is to exist as a point.

I have to think there is some connection between the idea of punctualism and the message Salo ports. But I’m not quite getting the point of it. Can someone help me crack the code? (Or tell me I’m on goofballs…)

4 Comments
2024/10/29
16:14 UTC

8

Want to read more Vonnegut, is there a particular narrator I should look for if there are multiple narrators of the same book?

Thank you!

6 Comments
2024/10/27
02:00 UTC

15

Art Project.

I'm doing a lifesize drawing of my own depiction of Kilgore Trout. It would be really helpful if anyone has any descriptions of him from the books as I don't have them on me at the moment for reference. Also if anyone knows of any drawings/ depictions that already exist? Thank you!

14 Comments
2024/10/24
13:53 UTC

11

Slaughterhouse 5 reference on WWE. What's your favourite reference?

Of all the places to hear a possible Vonnegut reference, WWE Smackdown was not high on my list of likelihoods. LA Knight ending off one of his promos with "So it goes", I guess time will tell if it's just a coincidence. Got me thinking about my favourite references though. In Borderlands 2, one of Mayas killshot dialogues is "So it goes", which I loved.

5 Comments
2024/10/19
11:01 UTC

23

What is Vonnegut's most dialogue-heavy book?

I've read Welcome to the Monkey House, Sirens of Titan, and I have 80 pages left of Cat's Cradle. The dialogue between characters is my favorite part of his writing but sometimes it's relatively sparse. Is there a book of his that is more dialogue-heavy than Sirens or Cat's? Thanks

16 Comments
2024/10/16
16:39 UTC

37

Is Eliot Rosewater a good person?

I finished GBY,MR about a month ago, I adored the book. But as I was reading I never questioned if Eliot was a good person or not. Of course he isn't the best person, but I thought a lot of his intentions were good and he was overall kind and wise. I listened to the Kurt Vonneguys podcast episode on the novel, and it was very critical of Eliot as a person. So I thought it might be interesting to hear what people think about this delight of a book and its central character

8 Comments
2024/10/16
01:00 UTC

7

Cant find a story

I read a Vonnegut short a long time ago about an office hiring someone to make it more efficient. I have looked and looked and cannot find it. Surely I didn’t make it up did I? Could someone tell me what short story Im remembering, please? TIA

3 Comments
2024/10/13
02:01 UTC

154

Player Piano is amazing and deserves more love

This is the perspective of someone who is roughly half way through the book. I’ve seen plenty of negative comments on this book on this sub. Dr. Proteus is an interesting and multi-dimensional character. Vonnegut did a great job of having multiple plot lines going on and I’m so eager to find out what happens with the Meadows, his Shepherd rivalry, his plans for Anita, the Shah, Paul might having to rat on Ed, etc. Also, been a while since I’ve seen Ed, I wonder what he and Lasher are up to. I can’t wait to see how all these tie together if they even do. All in all, it’s hard to put this book down whenever I pick it up!

25 Comments
2024/10/12
00:25 UTC

4

Invitation to fill out form for research

Hello, it's me again

please fill out my form if you're comfortable clicking the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYLFgYZBy6XbfD40SNmV-GirCEFksRNjP8aTH0Zx0i2ECYzg/viewform?usp=sf_link

2 Comments
2024/10/11
16:31 UTC

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