Kurt Vonnegut Book Club: Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons
As our nation slowly descends into a Trump-related dystopian nightmare, one can't help but wonder what some of the great writers and thinkers who are no longer with us would have thought. Would Mark Twain fire up some passive-aggressive Tweets? Would Hemingway call Trump a pansy-ass and challenge him to an arm-wrestling match? Or more apropos to this show, how would Kurt Vonnegut react to the unique times we're living in?
Unfortunately we can't ask him, but his essay collection Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons offers us Kurt's thoughts on another trying time in American history: 1966-1974. Vietnam, Nixon, hippies and drugs are all at play in this series of essays that feel just about as vital now as they might have 50 years ago.
So join Alex Schmidt and Michael Swaim as they light some incense, put on some Creedence and discuss old-man Kurt Vonnegut's oddly prescient reactions to 60s and 70s America in Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons.
Segments:
Story/Essay Time (00:00:30)
Kurt Blurt (01:19:30)
VonneWHAT (01:27:00)
Kurt Blurt, Part II (01:34:30)
The Meat (01:44:30)
VonneGRADES (01:45:40)
Related Reading (01:47:30)
Kurt Vonnegut's Personal Library of Related Recommended Things For You to Read (01:52:10)
Vonnegut News (01:59:20)
Related Reading:
Book: Sherman Alexie: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Speech: Mary Schmich: Wear Sunscreen
Speech: David Foster Wallace: This is Water
Kurt Vonnegut's Recommendations:
Full Text: Edgar Lee Masters: Spoon River Anthology
Book: USA (The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money): John Dos Passos
Full Text: Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary
