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A review by kmritter
Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview and Other Conversations by Kurt Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut
5.0
This was a great insight into the mind of one of my favorite writers. Vonnegut passed away shortly before my first exposure to his works, so I really appreciated this book as a chance to get to know him better.
Some highlights:
Pg. 63
Interviewer: If you were Commissar of Publishing in the United States, what would you do to alleviate the present deplorable situation?
Vonnegut: There is no shortage of wonderful writers. What we lack is a dependable mass of readers.
Interviewer: So—?
Vonnegut: I propose that every person out of work be required to submit a book report before he or she gets his or her welfare check.
Pg. 121
Heller: Western civilization has made a pact with the Devil. I think the story of Faust has to do with Western civilization. You might say white civilization. The Devil or God said, “I’ll give you knowledge to do great things. But you’re going to use that knowledge to destroy the environment and to destroy yourself.” You mentioned Darwin. I think that’s what we’re experiencing now is the natural state of evolution. Half the society is underprivileged and maybe a third of the rest is barely surviving. The trouble with the Administration is that it doesn’t want to deal with the problem. It doesn’t want to define it as a problem because then it will have to deal with it.
Pg. 166
Vonnegut: In the public schools, I learned what America was supposed to be—you, you know, a beacon of liberty to the rest of the world. And obviously, that wasn’t the case. I wrote a letter to Iraq, an open letter signed Uncle Sam [laughs], and what it said was: “Dear Iraq. Do like us. At the beginning of democracy, a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. After a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote and hold public office.” Some democracy. Anyway, when I was young, I noticed these contradictions and, of course, they were quite acceptable to a lot of people, but not to me.
Some highlights:
Pg. 63
Interviewer: If you were Commissar of Publishing in the United States, what would you do to alleviate the present deplorable situation?
Vonnegut: There is no shortage of wonderful writers. What we lack is a dependable mass of readers.
Interviewer: So—?
Vonnegut: I propose that every person out of work be required to submit a book report before he or she gets his or her welfare check.
Pg. 121
Heller: Western civilization has made a pact with the Devil. I think the story of Faust has to do with Western civilization. You might say white civilization. The Devil or God said, “I’ll give you knowledge to do great things. But you’re going to use that knowledge to destroy the environment and to destroy yourself.” You mentioned Darwin. I think that’s what we’re experiencing now is the natural state of evolution. Half the society is underprivileged and maybe a third of the rest is barely surviving. The trouble with the Administration is that it doesn’t want to deal with the problem. It doesn’t want to define it as a problem because then it will have to deal with it.
Pg. 166
Vonnegut: In the public schools, I learned what America was supposed to be—you, you know, a beacon of liberty to the rest of the world. And obviously, that wasn’t the case. I wrote a letter to Iraq, an open letter signed Uncle Sam [laughs], and what it said was: “Dear Iraq. Do like us. At the beginning of democracy, a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. After a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote and hold public office.” Some democracy. Anyway, when I was young, I noticed these contradictions and, of course, they were quite acceptable to a lot of people, but not to me.