I am grateful for this, thank you for sharing. My late father -in- law knew Kurt- they were contemporaries working at GE in the publicity dept. He related a story to me about Kurt that went like this: On one occasion, while at Cornell, Vonnegut was taking an end of term exam in one of the large lecture halls on campus. The proctor called time, and the students came forward ,and, one by one, deposited their test papers in a stack on his desk. Vonnegut- however, stayed in his seat and continued to write. The proctor called him out, saying time had been called, and that he would not accept his test.
Vonnegut got up, approached the desk with his exam papers in hand, and asked the proctor,
"Do you know who I am?" The proctor answered that no, he did not, and with that Kurt picked up the pile of exams from the desk, quickly inserted his own somewhere in the middle of the stack, and then set them all back down on the desk, smiled, wished the proctor a good day, and walked out... ;)
Funny. I heard the exact same trick was used at Berkeley a few years back. It was a large lecture-hall class and there happened to be a lot of the same ethnicity with similar names. Same result.
Sep 15, 2022·edited Sep 15, 2022Liked by Celia Farber
I've seen that video before but I have to queue it up as I suspect it bears repeating. That man was a treasure. One of my favorite passages of writing from him was from Player Piano. A young mand is at a party and a very successful friend of his father grabs him the the arm and offers him life advice that we all need to hear. The short of it is don't be bluffed by anyone. Noone is so damn smart you can't learn 80% of what they know in a week. Show me a specialist and I'll show you a coward who found a corner he could hide in. Don't be bluffed by anyone. I'll have to track it down at some point.
I had it earmarked now just need to not butcher it typing. From chapter 22.
"Paul, your father tells me you're real smart." Paul had nodded uncomfortably.
"That's good, Paul, but that isn't enough."
"No, Sir"
"Don't be bluffed."
"No, sir, I won't"
"Everybody's shaking in his boots, so don't be bluffed."
"No Sir"
"Nobody's so damn well educated that you can't learn 90% of what he knows in six weeks.. The other 10% is decoration."
"Yes Sir"
"Show me a specialist, and I'll show you a man who's so scared he's dug a hole for himself to hid in."
"Yes, sir."
"Almost nobody's competent, Paul. It's enough to make you cry to see how bad most people are at their jobs. If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
"yes sir."
"Want to be rich, Paul?"
"Yes sire---I guess so. Yes sir."
"All right. I got rich, and I told you 90% of what I know about it. The rest is decoration. All right?"
"Yes, sir" (Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano, Chapter 22, page 229 in my paperback version)
Kurt Vonnegut was a wise and very humorous man. Thank you Celia for posting this much needed look back at not only an individual life, but what he gave to it. If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.
Sep 15, 2022·edited Sep 15, 2022Liked by Celia Farber
I've not read anything by Vonnegut except for Slaughterhouse-Five. His fascinsting, strange life is likely more interesting than his fiction. The best books I've read on reading, and writing fiction are Francine Prose's, "Reading like a Writer: A Guide.....", and Ayn Rand's, "The Art of Fiction: A Gude for Readers, and Writers." Rand was a bit nutty, her philosophy sophomoric, and her novels vehicles for her dogma, although quite well written, aside from beating the reader to death with her dogma, but her understanding of the craft of writing is quite unparalleled.
Vonnegut fans might enjoy this. I don't have a Substack to flog here, but this is me, Dana Cook, before I became Mutant Variant (and before Salon became trash).
Wow, when was Salon not trash? When I first came across it years ago it was a transparently crack pot, dogmatic, left wing rag sheet hardly worth a glance. Did Christopher Hitchens once write some pieces for it?
Thank you!!!! I needed this so much. More than I knew :) The chalkboard bit with the G/i axis versus the Beginning/Entropy line is priceless. Cinderella compare and contrast Hamlet-- "Thank you, Bill." This video is really a jewel. How few people there are who can deliver a profound (and interesting!) truth with such flowing sparkling language, and humor on top. Postscript, there's a de facto message here about youth and age: how Western culture frames "old." You know?
Great video. But I must share this which Celia probably knows. Dr. Jha, Biden's biggest fear mongering mouthpiece gets his funds from Grants from Harvard which gets millions Bill Melinda Gates Foundation. Ha, all roads led to Rome, now they lead to Gate$; his crimes are detestable, and the people who protect them are equal.
I always liked his novels best among all the writers I was reading as a teenager. Mark Twain was pretty dang groovy as well. I often thought of Vonnegut as Twain reincarnated. Also (from his book Cat's Cradle), Bokononism resonates as a plausible correlative for "soul-groups." I saw this video sometime back--and love it--so thank you for bringing it to our attention. I really enjoyed watching this again--and could watch it multiple times, and then some.
I am grateful for this, thank you for sharing. My late father -in- law knew Kurt- they were contemporaries working at GE in the publicity dept. He related a story to me about Kurt that went like this: On one occasion, while at Cornell, Vonnegut was taking an end of term exam in one of the large lecture halls on campus. The proctor called time, and the students came forward ,and, one by one, deposited their test papers in a stack on his desk. Vonnegut- however, stayed in his seat and continued to write. The proctor called him out, saying time had been called, and that he would not accept his test.
Vonnegut got up, approached the desk with his exam papers in hand, and asked the proctor,
"Do you know who I am?" The proctor answered that no, he did not, and with that Kurt picked up the pile of exams from the desk, quickly inserted his own somewhere in the middle of the stack, and then set them all back down on the desk, smiled, wished the proctor a good day, and walked out... ;)
Funny. I heard the exact same trick was used at Berkeley a few years back. It was a large lecture-hall class and there happened to be a lot of the same ethnicity with similar names. Same result.
Tremendous!
I've seen that video before but I have to queue it up as I suspect it bears repeating. That man was a treasure. One of my favorite passages of writing from him was from Player Piano. A young mand is at a party and a very successful friend of his father grabs him the the arm and offers him life advice that we all need to hear. The short of it is don't be bluffed by anyone. Noone is so damn smart you can't learn 80% of what they know in a week. Show me a specialist and I'll show you a coward who found a corner he could hide in. Don't be bluffed by anyone. I'll have to track it down at some point.
Please do. :)
I had it earmarked now just need to not butcher it typing. From chapter 22.
"Paul, your father tells me you're real smart." Paul had nodded uncomfortably.
"That's good, Paul, but that isn't enough."
"No, Sir"
"Don't be bluffed."
"No, sir, I won't"
"Everybody's shaking in his boots, so don't be bluffed."
"No Sir"
"Nobody's so damn well educated that you can't learn 90% of what he knows in six weeks.. The other 10% is decoration."
"Yes Sir"
"Show me a specialist, and I'll show you a man who's so scared he's dug a hole for himself to hid in."
"Yes, sir."
"Almost nobody's competent, Paul. It's enough to make you cry to see how bad most people are at their jobs. If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
"yes sir."
"Want to be rich, Paul?"
"Yes sire---I guess so. Yes sir."
"All right. I got rich, and I told you 90% of what I know about it. The rest is decoration. All right?"
"Yes, sir" (Kurt Vonnegut, Player Piano, Chapter 22, page 229 in my paperback version)
Thank you :) I am adding him to my reading list.
I am going to listen to this 1997 youtube now https://youtu.be/_BvNcGzl-zQ
Thank you for sharing!
I love and miss Kurt Vonnegut! I featured my favorite novel of his, “Cat’s Cradle,” in this piece:
• “Letter to My Karass” (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/letter-to-my-karass)
We sorely need his voice as well as those of George Carlin, Bill Hicks, and so many other dear departed truth-tellers.
Kurt Vonnegut was a wise and very humorous man. Thank you Celia for posting this much needed look back at not only an individual life, but what he gave to it. If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.
Celia, thank you for that, a lovely reminder.........and so it goes.
I've not read anything by Vonnegut except for Slaughterhouse-Five. His fascinsting, strange life is likely more interesting than his fiction. The best books I've read on reading, and writing fiction are Francine Prose's, "Reading like a Writer: A Guide.....", and Ayn Rand's, "The Art of Fiction: A Gude for Readers, and Writers." Rand was a bit nutty, her philosophy sophomoric, and her novels vehicles for her dogma, although quite well written, aside from beating the reader to death with her dogma, but her understanding of the craft of writing is quite unparalleled.
Vonnegut fans might enjoy this. I don't have a Substack to flog here, but this is me, Dana Cook, before I became Mutant Variant (and before Salon became trash).
https://www.salon.com/2007/04/12/vonnegut_obit/
Wow, when was Salon not trash? When I first came across it years ago it was a transparently crack pot, dogmatic, left wing rag sheet hardly worth a glance. Did Christopher Hitchens once write some pieces for it?
Thank you!!!! I needed this so much. More than I knew :) The chalkboard bit with the G/i axis versus the Beginning/Entropy line is priceless. Cinderella compare and contrast Hamlet-- "Thank you, Bill." This video is really a jewel. How few people there are who can deliver a profound (and interesting!) truth with such flowing sparkling language, and humor on top. Postscript, there's a de facto message here about youth and age: how Western culture frames "old." You know?
Very Very Funny
& Poingnant Two !
Thank You.
I’ve been meaning to watch the Vonnegut documentary. I’m inspired to really do it!
Marvellous stuff, thank you. Off-scale happy.
I plowed through Vonnegut when a child but in those days, of course, one had seldom chance to see him perform…
Great video. But I must share this which Celia probably knows. Dr. Jha, Biden's biggest fear mongering mouthpiece gets his funds from Grants from Harvard which gets millions Bill Melinda Gates Foundation. Ha, all roads led to Rome, now they lead to Gate$; his crimes are detestable, and the people who protect them are equal.
I always liked his novels best among all the writers I was reading as a teenager. Mark Twain was pretty dang groovy as well. I often thought of Vonnegut as Twain reincarnated. Also (from his book Cat's Cradle), Bokononism resonates as a plausible correlative for "soul-groups." I saw this video sometime back--and love it--so thank you for bringing it to our attention. I really enjoyed watching this again--and could watch it multiple times, and then some.
Kurt Vonnegut on Poverty in America
https://youtu.be/1h9qaXX8eBM
Nice. He's on my list of author's to read
GOD BLESS YOU.
My favorite Human.
REMEMBER to LOVE THE ENEMY. They want fear. Give them love.