Kurt Vonnegut: The Misunderstood Writer

The 20th century saw many American authors leave their mark on the world of American literature. One such author to succeed in leaving such a mark was Kurt Vonnegut. Kurt Vonnegut is a hard writer to pin down with a career spanning over five decades. He was prolific throughout his illustrious career, writing books that attempted to dissect and understand the world he’d grown up in and his life.
As a writer, Vonnegut often approached his subject matter with satire and science fiction twists, making his work unique and sometimes challenging to decipher. Three general concepts guided much of his work: social equality, pacifism, and common decency. These were themes that worked for the audience of the time. He was a writer who made villains of sexuality, violence, war, and technology. Overshadowed by his most popular book, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut's interesting life helps make sense of his exciting work throughout his career. This is the story of the misunderstood writer.
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Further Reading:
www.albany.edu/writers-inst/w...
indyencyclopedia.org/vonnegut...
www.britannica.com/biography/...
www.biblio.com/blog/2022/11/t...
web.archive.org/web/201411080...
cornellsun.com/2007/04/16/the...
www.nationalww2museum.org/war...
blogs.cofc.edu/vonnegut/vonne...
www.loc.gov/item/n79062641/ku...
www.vonnegutlibrary.org/biogr...
www.britannica.com/event/Batt...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-...
www.nytimes.com/1952/08/17/bo...
www.britannica.com/topic/Play...
www.nanettevonnegut.com/infor...
www.vonnegutlibrary.org/wp-co...
www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/bo....
www.nytimes.com/1963/06/03/bo...
archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...
www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136823...
www.nytimes.com/1970/11/18/ar...
google.co.za/books/edition/Ku...
www.vonnegutlibrary.org/2018/...
/ 2778055.kurt_vonnegut_jr_
www.wired.com/2007/04/rip-kur...

[@Biographics]

Check out Eric's Channel Storyrant for Storytelling Video Essays and Podcasts: kzbin.info/door/6Sk2h2WsYMxnGERAH_FbGg Check out Eric's Books and other Links: linktr.ee/EricMalikyte

[@joebeal4212]

I have a signed letter from Kurt Vonnegut . I wrote him a letter in 1976 , he wrote back . 😊 I treasure the letter .

[@danidavis7912]

I have a couple of fun letters from authors from when I was a kid. The Isaac Asimov letter is my favorite. The guy actually sent me a hand written letter with tips about becoming a writer. He wished me the very best and said he expected to see some submissions from me soon. (He had his name on a short lived magazine back then.) My other one is from Arthur C. Clarke, although I think that one came from a handler and he signed it.

[@jayfrank1913]

One of my high school teachers had a letter from him that was signed with a hand-drawn asterisk, which was meant to depict an a**hole. I saw him speak around 1984 and all I really remember was him chain smoking and very comically trashing Ronald Reagan.

[@sacredguineapig9397]

Oh boy do I envy you (not these other two comments that attempt to coattail on a lovely little sentiment)

[@danidavis7912]

@@sacredguineapig9397 Oh shut up. Good grief.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country." -- Kurt Vonnegut

[@christinebenson518]

I just realized some guys from my high-school that I wouldn't trust to dog sit are fire fighters in my town. Granted we just have volunteers.

[@kentgrady9226]

The Mark Twain of the 20th Century. He spoke at my university, where I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture he gave. He signed my copies of Slaughterhouse 5, Mother Night, and Hocus Pocus. Easily my favorite American author. A true genius, and hysterically funny, both in print and in person.

[@danidavis7912]

Kurt Vonnegut was/is massively underrated IMHO. My dad gave me a copy of Slaughterhouse 5 to read when I was in the 8th grade, I think. Even though I eventually went into the military for a spell, the book had a profound impact on my ideas of war. Still does.

[@kentgrady9226]

@@danidavis7912 Vonnegut's work ought to be *especially* poignant to those who serve in the military. In fact, I would say that combat veterans should read Vonnegut as a means to address PTSD. If you can't see the absurdity in being sent by someone you don't know, in order to k1ll people whom you have never met and who have never met you, Uncle Kurt will show you how ridiculous the notion truly is. Disclaimer: I am not anti-military. I am, in fact, pro-soldier. I am, however, stridently opposed to stupidity, greed, and most forms of externally imposed idealism. When I meet a combat vet, I don't want to hear tales of heroism. I want to hear that they are doing ok.

[@danidavis7912]

@@kentgrady9226 As a disabled vet, I love your position and agree wholeheartedly. I understand that there is a need at times, to engage the bad guys. It's policing on a bigger scale than what cops do in a city, but policing nonetheless and sometimes it is a necessary thing. If you have never seen an early Donald Sutherland flick called "Johnny Got His Gun", I highly recommend it. If you're like me, it will really piss you off. But it is eye-opening, to say the least. I think it's the best film he has ever made.

[@reddog-ex4dx]

I didn't know that Player Piano was his first novel. That book was so prophetic. He grasped how man was slowly replacing himself with robots. And now AI!

[@sofa_king_kool]

My cat's named Trout in respect to Kilgore. His heart and sense of hopeful realism (and humor) seeps outta every page...

[@Lafiel17]

Kurt's cameo in Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School was hilarious. That and Sam Kinison's history professor were the best things in that movie.

[@eldonyeakel1459]

If you ever in Indianapolis, then you have to visit the Vonnegut Museum. It is a wonderful museum run by a great staff.

[@poughkeepsieblue]

Kurt is not misunderstood, i understand him well, and love him just the same.

[@kamandi1362]

Yes, it’s a cliched clickbait title that doesn’t do this channel any favours.

[@nl3064]

Clearly they mean misunderstood early in his career - as explained in the video, many of his classic novels were critically panned, or dismissed with a shrug, before their critical re-evaluation years later. He basically says in the video, early readers didn't know what to do with him.

[@TRIChuckles]

One of my two favorites. Mark Twain being my other. Thank you

[@michellehinkel4905]

Thank you so much for covering one of my favorite authors!

[@AvidCat5000]

My favorite author of scifi satire. Just finished "Sirens of Titan" recently. Brilliant.

[@pakde8002]

It's awesome people are still discovering his work. I read The Sirens of Titan 50 years ago and it's still one of my favorite books.

[@Paragod07]

Most underrated writer of the 20th century.

[@crosbychurchil4228]

Did this man say S, double A, B dealership!? 😂😂😂

[@elitefencer777]

That IS the technically correct pronunciation. SAAB is an abbreviation (in Swedish) for the Swedish Aeroplane Corporation... That ended up making cars. Yeah.

[@rogerpenske2411]

No, he said Slob!

[@eshep71]

Can't watch now, but I will. I love Kurt.

[@lordkarellan7808]

More of Eric. He has the polish and professionalism of a scholar and just the right dash of humor. The same qualities I admired in Simon. I hope to see him hosting the videos more - dare I say? - exclusively.

[@Wrothingcrust]

This videos gonna be so dope, one of my fav figures in contemporary literature.

[@Biographics]

Let me know how James did. :)

[@david_1214]

I like this host. Hope he stays on.

[@ryanl4614]

Definitely dig this guy. Can completely understand everything clearly.

[@Moscatinka]

Vonnegut is my fav American writer and was an incredibly funny man. I have to re-read Harrison Bergeron at least once a year and it cracks me up every time (google it if you don't know it, it's a short story that can be found online). Every one of his novels are a masterpiece, definitely recommended if you like some dark comedy mixed into your Sci-Fi.

[@rogerpenske2411]

The. EEOC and “ Affirmative Action “

[@ox8833]

I’m so glad you guys finally did a video on him! Respect from Indiana

[@TheYacu]

The first book of his that I came across was "Galapagos", and that's still one of my favourite books of all. It's amazing how a bizarre end-of-the-world scenario like this one can have so much freakish humour and heartwarming humanity in it.

[@roykay4709]

I started reading Vonnegut after seeing the movie "Slaughterhouse 5". I never read it, but started reading other works and liked them.

[@ervp26tp]

His experience in the Southwest in 1938 played an important aspect of the man he became. This is from history of Cottonwood Gulch Foundation, Thoreau, New Mexico. The Vonnegut Connection Vonnegut 3Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt Vonnegut, the famous writer of a dozen novels and hundreds of short stories and magazine articles, was a former Trekker. He grew up in Indianapolis and went camping with The Prairie Trek led by the Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions. Vonnegut 1 Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of ‘getting to know you’ questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater; I’m in choir; I play the violin and piano; I used to take art classes.” “And he went, ‘WOW. That’s amazing!’ And I said, ‘Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.’” “And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind, because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: ‘I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.'” “And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the Myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could ‘Win’ at them.” Vonnegut 2 Vonnegut wrote a dedication to “Mr. Howie” in one of his novels. In the front of his book, called Galapagos, he wrote: A good man who took me and my best friend Ben Hitz and some other boys out to the American Wild West from Indianapolis, Indiana, in the summer of 1938. Mr. Howie introduced us to real Indians and has us sleep out of doors every night and bury our dung, and he taught us how to ride horses, and he told us the names of many plants and animals and what they needed to do in order to stay alive and reproduce themselves. One night Mr. Howie scared us half to death on purpose, screaming like a wildcat near our camp. A real wildcat screamed back! During a 1985 book-tour interview about the novel Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut was asked if his school teacher-heroine named MARY HEPBURN, was modeled after Hillis Howie. Vonnegut said: “I would think so. It took me a long time to realize what a great man Hillis Howie was. That’s part of the American experience … to suddenly come across a truly great person who never becomes rich or famous, but who is enormously beneficial just to those near him. Hillis Howie was such a person, a great naturalist, very kind and strong with boys….He ran these expeditions to the West and they still go on. But it was his invention.” (emphasis added). Vonnegut continued: “We had a truck and three station wagons, and we traveled all over [New Mexico and the Four Corner states]. We had specific missions from the Field Museum in Chicago. I was a ‘Mammalogist,’ for instance, and I put trap-lines out every night. In fact, in 1938, I caught a sub-species of the tawny white-foot mouse, which had not been seen before. When I was in the Army telling someone about this, he immediately named it Mee-sis Vonn-egee-sis.”

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Keep the good work eric! You're killing it!🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@Biographics]

Thanks!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

​@@Biographicsnp😊😊😊❤❤❤

[@CC-gg4oj]

I remember the first time I read a book by Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions. Wow. Now all his novels are at the top of my main bookcase. My personal favorite is Bluebeard, that painting...

[@MikeP2055]

I highly recommend looking up Kurt Vonnegut quotes one day when you're bored. He was so damn funny.

[@desrenehanirl7]

“If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is!”

[@Clarkamadorian]

Too young to have properly ever met the guy, but I’ve read a few of his books now, and I understood each one. Or, at least, most of them. The introduction to his writing was confusing at first but I adapted to it.

[@djdrack4681]

Is he really 'misunderstood' though? I felt that his backstory + books spoke for themselves: a mix of semi-biographic, surreal fiction, pacifism, and moral foundations (to fight off nihilism/apathy/insanity).

[@montyollie]

Mother Night blew my ever loving mind and changed my life.

[@-RONNIE]

Thank you for the information. I didn't know anything about him

[@pakde8002]

Reading Vonnegut at an early age pretty much hard wired my world view, which is unfortunate for anyone trying to make sense of how the world actually works. The Sirens of Titan was one of my favorites.

[@janettefluent9290]

I’m mad this isn’t Simon! He’s my favorite narrator!

[@rakim126]

Simon sold the channel. Eric is solid tho

[@jpturnage]

Excellent Simon impersonation!

[@kennyhagan5781]

Long haired freaky person from Texas here, and I believe that Vonnegut's best work is his short story TANGO. I would advise you to read it. Try asking Roy Wood Jr to audition, he'd be great.

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

I understood what he was getting at the fallibility of human nature and absurdity of the world we live, Dianna Moon Glampers would fit right into the absurd MAGA world. In the 1960's we were blessed with great authors each putting a unique vision of dystopia but Vonnegut's humour made his work stand out.

[@darrengreen7906]

So it goes.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thank you.

[@-youngish]

You guys need Simon back. His voice and persona made these videos stand out. Not even a fraction as good without him.

[@thebaconapproach5725]

I'm interested in writing a biography for this channel. Is it possible to make and submit a script to have it reviewed for a future video or does the team decide what gets shown or not?

[@michaelsmyth3935]

Read both 5 and Cradle upon the recommendation of my 11th Grade English teacher.

[@RomainBX101]

That look very good video of kurt lifetime and history in his time. Plus, another new host of biographies which is nice and least other host get some rest.

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

So, it's been quite a while since the last time that I watched Biographics content. What happened to Simon Whistler? How long has it been since he last hosted an episode on this, and is he no longer the primary host, or is he just on hiatus for the time being?

[@FayAlexGG]

[Harrison Bergeron enters the chat]

[@rakim126]

Eric...classic presenter voice... yes

[@Caspar67]

You guys should do a biography on frank herbert and dune

[@udowannun7780]

S, double-A, B?!? That would be pronounced “sahb .” Geezus I’m not that old, am I?

[@j.a.c3350]

Feel better, Karl!

[@kevinbourke1847]

I got his book slaughterhouse five (and seen the movie)

[@hankhill2326]

Carlos the Jackal would be a good one

[@BillHimmel]

„Leipzig“ is pronounced „Liep-zig“, like in „lie“ and „lying“

[@josuemagana7242]

Whoa what happened to Simon?!?

[@Hamzakhan-dt3gv]

Interesting

[@ronaldgarner1992]

What happened to Simon Whistler?

[@giselematthews7949]

Check out Brain Blaze.

[@brothernobody1775]

now he's in the basement

[@abbieconnie2012]

There a video that explains everything

[@abbieconnie2012]

The owner of the channel and him had disagreement is what I heard

[@mwi3865]

Far better host then the other guy

[@dope1725]

Bernard cloud seeding. Silver iodide. Ice 9. Satriani

[@rogerpenske2411]

I don’t think that he ever went to a 500. BHA, baby!

[@lokiiago_x0x]

respectfully: dang, eric's handsome! x0x

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:30 - Chapter 1 - The early years of kurt vonnegut 2:30 - Chapter 2 - A different america 3:55 - Chapter 3 - The shortridge echo 5:40 - Chapter 4 - Dragged into war 7:20 - Chapter 5 - Vonnegut ; POW 9:30 - Chapter 6 - A normal life post war 11:25 - Chapter 7 - Taking a chance ; becoming a writer 13:10 - Chapter 8 - The struggling writer 15:30 - Chapter 9 - The book that changed it all ; Slaughterhouse 5 17:20 - Chapter 10 - Handling a newfound fame 19:15 - Chapter 11 - Vonnegut's freefall 20:15 - Chapter 12 - Final years 22:20 - Conclusion

[@tycro]

It’s Saab. Not S-Double A-B. I’m upset.

[@rogerpenske2411]

Mmmmm, Knocks Burger 🍔

[@TM-yn4iu]

The video is great subject, but the presentation is just not comfortable. I feel as is im in a zoom meeting,him looking up at the camera. In addition the head movements follow that thought, so close - what for.

[@AdrianCarlisle]

Nah thats me and my book thats missunderstood🤪

[@foolofatook4925]

“He was forced to go to… *gasp* PUBLIC SCHOOL!” 🫨😱

[@factor2634]

I prefer this guy the other young guy makes it so difficult in the beginning of the videos with his waffling

[@helenwheels3341]

The great depression did not hit everyone in the United States of America. For some, it practically made no difference. ..

[@chalupagrande8544]

What’s with the sinister eyebrow in the intro?

[@pyromania1018]

His one major flaw is that he referenced David Irving in "Slaughterhouse 5", though to be fair, neither he nor anyone else at the time were aware of Irving's true nature.

[@kamandi1362]

David Irving is right. If you consider yourself a freethinker, watch the epic documentary Europa the Last Battle.

[@jaxsonlzimmerman5523]

Next up: Delores O’Rierdan, JM Barrie, Gertrude Stein, Flannery O’Connor, John Steinbeck, or Oliver Reed

[@Lance-zy4xm]

Beep!

[@nancycurtis7315]

Karl was great. I changed channel when this bloke started. Just not my preferred host. Apols.

[@littleshep5502]

Karl still does videos, occasionally he takes small breaks to prevent burnout

[@nancycurtis7315]

@@littleshep5502 Thank you. I just found his style to my liking. Appreciate your kind reply. No offence was meant. We are just all different. Horses for courses, I think.

[@EGSBiographies-om1wb]

110th

[@HenryCasillas]

❄️

[@Xaeravoq]

karl is god

[@rakim126]

Nah this dude is way better.

[@chalkiememe4183]

Much better host, sorry but i tried to watch after Simon left but I couldn’t get on with the young guy who took over. So stopped watching. Just happened to click on this as I am very interested in KV. So will carry on watching again as this host is very easy to listen to. No offence meant to the other young man, I just couldn’t get on with his style of hosting.

[@josephschenkenfelder1876]

Do one on Joe Biden!!

[@floridafresa5665]

I can't 😢, what happened to the other dude??? He was good, I was finally getting used to him. Unsubscribe.

[@jamesholland8057]

You forgot Galapagos. You have a hard time pronouncing some words, are you originally American? The publishers stilted his creativity after Sirens and Cat’s Cradle, which are both genius works.

[@HammerliFanBoy]

This guy can't even pronounce Saab. Instead, he refers to it as "S, double A, B." He tries to be too dramatic. I like Karl better.

[@drewlovely2668]

You're probably also one of the ones that also complained about Karl when he first took over hosting..... Just enjoy the dang video

[@ogedeh]

I miss karl

[@cactaceous]

This host is much better than the young man with the tattoos. Sorry to say but his form of narrating is unwatchable. If this host continues being the main narrator, I will stick around.

[@giselematthews7949]

You are talking about Karl Smallwood. Ya, he is an acquired taste, but he has gotten better. He has been around for years.

[@ogedeh]

Karl is alright, but I guess I get it

[@HammerliFanBoy]

I much prefer Karl. Simon was my favorite, but this guy is my least favorite. I guess everyone has their own preference.

[@ogedeh]

​@@HammerliFanBoyI'm actually excited about less Simon on this channel. I watch plenty of Simon on his other channels. Thought Karl fit pretty nicely

[@timumbra2476]

I prefer my whistle boy but they’re all doing stuff like which is educational stuff which is great :)