BOOKS BY KURT VONNEGUT
Bluebeard
Breakfast of Champions
Cats Cradle
Deadeye Dick
Galpagos
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
Jailbird,
Mother Night
Palm Sunday
Player Piano
The Sirens of Titan
Slapstick
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons
Welcome to the Monkey House
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to use the following material:
An Account of the Ancestry of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., by an Ancient Friend of His Family by John G. Rauch: Used by permission of William Rauch.
Excerpts from Indianapolis magazine used by permission.
How to Write with Style by Kurt Vonnegut: Reprinted by permission from International Paper Companys Power of the Printed Word Program.
Self-Interview appeared originally in The Paris Review, Issue #69. Copyright 1977 by The Paris Review. Reprinted by permission of The Viking Press.
Who in America Is Truly Happy?: Reprinted from Politics Today, January 1979. Used by permission.
Review of SOMETHING HAPPENED by Joseph Heller: 1974 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
Introduction to WRITE IF YOU GET WORK: THE BEST OF BOB AND RAY by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding: Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
Class of 57 by Harold Reid and Don Reid: Copyright 1972 by House of Cash, Inc., Hendersonville, Tennessee 37075. Used by permission.
Viking Penguin, Inc. for Louis-Ferdinand Cline as the Introduction to the Penguin edition of CASTLE TO CASTLE, RIGADOON and NORTH by Louis-Ferdinand Cline.
Dresden Revisited was originally an introduction for the limited edition of SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE published by the Franklin Library and signed by the writer. The work is reprinted with the permission of the Franklin Library.
Flowers on the Wall by Lewis DeWitt: Copyright 1965, 1966 by Southwind Music, Inc. Rights controlled by Unichappell Music, Inc. (Rightsong Music, Inc., Publisher). International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.
Lines from Howl by Allen Ginsberg: Copyright 1956, 1959 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.
Acknowledgment is made to the following publications in whose pages these essays first appeared:
The New York Times for Un-American Nonsense; Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Haran Ellison for The Big Space Fuck; and The Nation for Mark Twain and Palm Sunday as Hypocrites You Always Have With You.
For my cousins the de St. Andrs everywhere. Who has the castle now?
TABLE OF CONTENTS (BITS OF THE COLLAGE)
Dear Mr. McCarthyletter by KV to head of school committee in Drake, N.D., where his books were burned
Un-American Nonsenseessay for The New York Times by KV, about the banning of his books by the school committee of Island Trees, N.Y.
Gods Lawspeech by KV at a fund raiser for the American Civil Liberties Union in Sands Point, N.Y.
Dear Felixletter by KV to a Russian friend about the harassment of writers in the USSR
An Account of the Ancestry of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., by an Ancient Friend of His Familyformal essay by the late John G. Rauch of Indianapolis
What I Liked about Cornellspeech by KV to an annual banquet of The Cornell Daily Sun in Ithaca, N.Y.
When I Lost My Innocenceessay by KV for Aftonbladet, a Swedish newspaper
I Am Embarrassedantinuke speech by KV at rally in Washington, D.C.
How to Write with Styleessay by KV for a campaign by the International Paper Company to encourage literacy
Replies by KV to questions put by himself for The Paris Review No. 69
Who in America Is Truly Happy?essay by KV on William F. Buckley, Jr., for Politics Today
Something Happenedreview by KV for The New York Times Book Review of Joseph Hellers second novel
The Rocky Graziano of American Lettersspeech by KV at banquet in honor of Irwin Shaw at the Players Club, New York City
The Best of Bob and Rayintroduction by KV to book by the great comedians Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding
James T. Farrellspeech by KV at Farrells funeral in New York City
Lavina Lyonspeech by KV at the funeral of an old friend in Lexington, Ky.
The Class of 57song by Don and Harold Reid of the Statler Brothers, a country-music quartet
The Noodle Factoryspeech by KV at the dedication of the new library at the University of Connecticut, New London
Mark Twainspeech by KV at the one-hundredth anniversary celebration of the completion of Mark Twains fanciful residence in Hartford, Conn.
How Jokes Workcommencement address by KV at Fredonia College, Fredonia, N.Y.
Do Not Mourn!speech written by KVs great-grandfather, Clemens Vonnegut, to be read at his own funeral
Thoughts of a Free Thinkercommencement address by KV at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, N.Y.
William Ellery Charmingspeech by KV on the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Unitarian minister, First Parish Church, Cambridge, Mass.
The Big Space Fuckshort story by KV
Fear and Loathing in Morristown, NJ.speech by KV to the Mental Health Association of New Jersey
Dear Mr. Xletter by Nanette Vonnegut, waitress, to disgruntled restaurant customer
Jonathan Swiftrejected introduction by KV to new edition of Gullivers Travels
The Chemistry Professortreatment by KV for a musical comedy based on Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Louis-Ferdinand Clineintroduction by KV to paperback editions of the controversial authors last three novels
Dresden Revisitedintroduction by KV to new edition of Slaughterhouse- Five
Flowers on the Wallsong by Lew De Witt of the Statler Brothers
Palm Sundaysermon delivered by KV at St. Clements Church, New York City
INTRODUCTION
T HIS IS a very great book by an American genius. I have worked so hard on this masterpiece for the past six years. I have groaned and banged my head on radiators. I have walked through every hotel lobby in New York, thinking about this book and weeping, and driving my fist into the guts of grandfather clocks.
It is a marvelous new literary form. This book combines the tidal power of a major novel with the bone-rattling immediacy of front-line journalismwhich is old stuff now, God knows, God knows. But I have also intertwined the flashy enthusiasms of musical theater, the lethal left jab of the short story, the sachet of personal letters, the oompah of American history, and oratory in the bow-wow style.