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I guess the worst thing you could say about Kurt was that he wanted to be a famous New York City writer and she helped him It paints a picture of a man scrambling and grasping for respect in a field that often doesn't seem inclined to provide it. Kurt dropped out of several colleges, but worked while he was there on school or local newspapers, where he learned to write clear, concise, punchy and often very funny sentences. I attended his lecture which I don't remember. He and his wife live near Charlottesville, Virginia. Vonnegut killed my innocence. When Kurt announced his interest in pursuing studies in the arts, Bernard insisted that he enroll at Cornell to study science, and the younger brother was powerless to resist. But then, what do I know about literature. Shields, who offered to be my biograph. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Back in the 60s, everyone read Kurt Vonnegut — for his humor, his satire, his snarky comments, and his off- beat and quirky style. But so what? Maybe "Cold Turkey" wasn't on Shields' reading list. Stop Being Such a Hardheaded Realist He was an overgrown baby who wanted status and respect as an author, forever insecure about his place in the pantheon. Shields does a very good job researching and humanizing Vonnegut. The implication is that Kerouac or Norman Mailer or Nelson Algren or Truman Capote, all of whom make cameos in these pages was taken more seriously than Vonnegut, whose early work was ghettoized as science fiction, published in slick magazines and cheap paperbacks. So: a solid bio with a throwaway appendix, badly endnoted. Original Title. Shields' research, so richly referenced, seems extremely meticulous and detailed, I have high degree of confidence in his observations. Was he a sci-fi writer or is a social commentator? Thanks Brian. It examines two marriages tha Perhaps people familiar with Kurt Vonnegut's media persona will not need a book that serves to humanize the curmudgeonly author. Vonnegut's concise collection of personal essays, Man Without a Country , published in , spent fifteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold more than , copies to date. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. This was how Vonnegut felt about his life, his family and society in general, a society that he felt had rejected him. Over a half a year ago I reviewed here John Tomedi's book Kurt Vonnegut , which did not exactly read like a biography but rather like a collection of serious, almost research-depth essays about the Vonnegut opus. Shields seems to really not like Kurt Vonnegut. The novel arrived in bookstores at the time of the growing anti-Vietnam-war sentiment and perfectly matched the zeitgeist. Embarrassing examples abound, including his on- campus sexism and philandering in the sixties, though this is hardly surprising given the middle-aged males dominating the writing courses at the time. His family has a fashionable home. Charles Shields has that talent. After years of eating cereal for dinner and scraping for pennies selling what he regarded as hack stories for the popular magazines of the s and s, he and his wife suddenly found themselves rich as royalties poured in from reprints of his earlier work and as each succeeding book, good or bad, lingered on the best-seller lists for week after week. One of his former students from Iowa, Barry Jay Kaplan, observed the ascendance of Kurt Vonnegut, erstwhile writer of drugstore paperbacks, into the glitterati. It must have been hard to papier mache a life out the pages of letters. As the bombs were being dropped on Dresden: Even at eight thousand feet, it was hot work for the RAF bomber crews. I'm really glad to have read this and to have learned so much about my favorite author and how much he loved dogs. Jan 01, Danny rated it really liked it Shelves: library-book , listened-to , non-fiction. One of the most important writers of the last century deserves a biography, and now finally he has it. The first authoritative biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I should start by saying that I rarely read biographies. Exotic birds, with no trees to sit in, preened themselves on twisted iron railings. His first wife, Jane, comes off as a saint, while his second wife, Jill, seems like anything but. The intimacy and detail of the book is remarkable: a whole man emerges from its pages. And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life Writer

The book was "Slaughterhouse Five", and I think I read it from cover to cover in one sitting. Charles Shields is a fan of Vonnegut's, even going so far as to call him "an extraordinary man" in the text's Introd It seems on browsing through some of the reviews of "And So It Goes" that many readers picked up this biography hoping to find the persona that Kurt Vonnegut crafted, as opposed to an honest story about the person. Biography Memoir. Mostly I enjoyed them though none ever seemed to be as quite as good as Slaughterhouse Five. So, Charles J. The book does not hesitate to explore Vonnegut's often unusual relationship with his first wife, Jane, his occasional and at times long-term dalliances, and his perhaps even more unusual relationship with his second wife, Jill Krementz, but, for the most part, Shields lets the participants or those with firsthand knowledge speak for themselves. Of course that's not really true. Get A Copy. View all 26 comments. Wait, didn't Aristotle say you can't prove a negative? It must have been hard to papier mache a life out the pages of letters. If you're a Kurt Vonnegut fan, or just want to know more a LOT more about the man, or simply want some more insight on the workings of the writing business at least in its former state , I highly recommend this biography. Overall, Shields' portrait presents a man who was more a plugger than a genius and a rather difficult one to live with at that. The quote was there alright. Nov 09, Louise rated it it was amazing Shelves: biography , writers. I am fine with him examining critical receptions and reader responses to the works when they appeared, but his personal thoughts on them should be left alone. VonnegutLieber Family History. On a minor note, there are a few factual errors and inaccurate statements about a couple of Vonnegut's novels. I am not sure why it ends the book, but it is informative none the less. To ask other readers questions about And So it Goes , please sign up. Times Events. After Vonnegut's death, his literary executors told Shields they chose someone else to write the "authorized" biography. The first response was no "A most respectful demurring by me for the excellent writer Charles J. The Dead Engineer However, the treatment of Vonnegut's post "Slaughterhouse-Five" life feels rushed and there's not much depth. What was interesting, but also rather upsetting, is the feeling that Vonnegut, who was known for his tidbits of extreme and concise wisdom about being decent human beings, being kind, and the importance of human connections and family, didn't exactly practice what he preached. When I do choose to read a biography it is typically because I find myself idealizing someone too much and I need to bring them back down to reality a little bit. On a freezing November day, three dozen were shoveled into the school furnace [ Clearly she really alienated Vonnegut's friends and relatives who provided much of the information to Shields. If you're feeling lazy, the review is copied underneath this. While he has an eccentric, achieving family to help him along, he was pushed into a career path determined by this brother. Much to the chagrin of the lifers I worked with, I subscribed to RAMPARTS, a slick, anti-establishment and anti-war magazine that was dutifully delivered to me during mail call once a month. Charles Shields has that talent. This book is an exhaustive and sometimes exhausting yet always admirable look at the life of a uniquely talented, creative, and innovative American writer, and institution, who was as full of quirks and contradictions as the characters who populated his writings. Enlarge cover. They mistook the accessibility of his writing for simplicity, or worse, simple-mindedness. Army the year before and, as his luck would have it, his unit was eventually sent to the Western Front in Europe — positioned at the farthest- forward salient in the Allied lines. So it goes. I don't think I will hold Vonnegut in such high esteem now, knowing the sordid details of his life, but I will still read him. A very good biography bringing vonnegut to life as a true to form human being, with all the good and bad stuff that comes along with it. What Shields does is humanize him. And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life Reviews

It was memorable. Vonnegut himself is my favorite author, whose insights I couldn't get enough of. When the book he was working on Slaughterhouse Five was published, it was not the book I expected but In the spring of , Kurt Vonnegut spoke at Reed College where I was freshman. What a bastard! Sure, I enjoy an occasional memoir or collections of autobiographical short stories, but for some reason biographies rarely interest me. Error rating book. More Details Dec 11, Michael Perkins rated it really liked it. On a minor note, there are a few factual errors and inaccurate statements about a couple of Vonnegut's novels. Not a big deal which I am sure will be cleared up in later prints of the book. Stop Being Such a Hardheaded Realist I've written a lot of letters, but, ever increasingly, with new technology, hard copy of written communication is shrinking. Jun 22, Cody Gordon rated it it was amazing. Much to the chagrin of the lifers I worked with, I subscribed to RAMPARTS, a slick, anti-establishment and anti-war magazine that was dutifully delivered to me during mail call once a month. However, Mr. Overall Shields did a great job at presenting a fairly balanced and seemingly honest portrait of the author. He talks about the discrepancies between the public persona and the private person, but lets the reader decide whether and how it affects their view of Vonnegut. He describes Vonnegut's formative years and shows why his reputation as a pessimistic curmudgeon was more than just artifice, more than simply a persona he put on like a battered hat. The man himself, however, though consistently witty throughout his life, bore little other resemblance to his long-time public image. Read more The point is to write as much as you know as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for Vonnegut fans, they will not like everything they read. But it also raises elusive questions, such as: What is the connection between biographer and biographee? The two met years after their wars, onstage at a literary festival in , and became great friends and eventually neighbors. He resists the temptation to pick a persona for Vonnegut and emphasize that throughout the book. One of the photos in the book even has him sitting at a table with Eddie Condon in Condon's nightclub. I am skipping over all the well-known events from Vonnegut's life, such as his service in the US Army in Germany in the waning years of the World War II and the POW period spent in Dresden, housed in a slaughterhouse, during the February massive bombing by the Allied forces. Especially once we consider that Peter Fonda's quote came from his book in ? To War in the Bridal Suite I have been an unabashed Vonnegut-lover ever since. Anyway, in one of those issues, a Kurt Vonnegut article appeared, and even in that avant garde for its time publication, his writing stood out. Enlarge cover. The best part of the book is at the very beginning, past the awful part where he talks about how he got to write the book, the part about Vonnegut's family and school years. I don't really care about the book aspect of this book. Shields covers Mr. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. I don't like this. His feckless father, a talented engineer trapped in life as an architect like his brilliant father, paid little attention to Kurt as a child and almost never encouraged him in any way. I also dropped in on a group discussion he held in the common area of my dorm. One of the Biggest Fools on the Hill If half of what appears in this text is true and it is all footnoted in the bibliography then she was and is a horrible woman who did much to bring despair and pain into Vonnegut's life. It's not Shields's fault, really. Shields' ridiculing Bluebeard as "an overlong, bumptious treatise on the value of Vonnegut's oeuvre as a writer," as I love the novel and consider it the second best in the oeuvre. After all, one of the reasons that I connected to Vonnegut's work so much is our shared understanding of absurdist cynicism.

And So it Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life Read Online

The worst part of all this is now it'll be another few years before someone else tries to do a better job. But then, what do I know about literature. Mostly I enjoyed them though none ever seemed to be as quite as good as Slaughterhouse Five. Vonnegut became not only a popular writer, thinker, and political satirist, but, in the eyes of many, emblematic of a specific age, admirably revivified by Shields. May 25, James Warfield rated it really liked it. As a result, they denied Shields permission to quote from some of Vonnegut's letters. Army the year before and, as his luck would have it, his unit was eventually sent to the Western Front in Europe — positioned at the farthest-forward salient in the Allied lines. Nov 25, Richard Derus rated it really liked it. Vonnegut and his buddies were quickly taken prisoner along with thousands of other Americans and marched overland to POW camps in Germany. Shields takes the reader through the pluses and minuses of Vonnegut's Midwestern childhood, where the demise of the family's wealth and position weighed heavily on his emotionally withholding mother. Not at all. About Us. A biography should have the fullest account possible of the subjects life, good and bad. I am fine with him examining critical receptions and reader responses to the works when they appeared, but his personal thoughts on them should be left alone. About Charles J. The twenty-first century has seen interest in and scholarship about Vonnegut's works grow even stronger, and this is the first book to examine in full the life of one of the most influential iconoclasts of his time. A friend got this for me for my birthday. Cheer up! From www. The section on his time teaching at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop is also fascinating. Nov 14, Emily rated it really liked it. Thanks for telling us about the problem. If anything, the fact he wasn't the same age as his fans may have been to his benefit. https://cdn.starwebserver.se/shops/mimmilundqvistmm/files/the-brief-bedford-reader-10th-edition-994.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583704/UploadedFiles/B0E2A2F5-A003-CBE3-167F-0D459EE1056B.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583600/UploadedFiles/F67E7EE4-5E8F-BD19-8512-82799602DB6F.pdf https://cdn.starwebserver.se/shops/razmusblomqvistao/files/meetings-expositions-events-and-conventions-an-introduction-to-the-industry-4th- edition.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9583767/UploadedFiles/7E6FA7E5-4332-071B-CAD7-64D447C31081.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9582806/UploadedFiles/C9BFD2AA-49D3-929E-7E81-332E820EF089.pdf https://cdn.starwebserver.se/shops/aaronhermanssoniv/files/spanish-for-health-care-2nd-edition-113.pdf