...is my favorite author human. He's like the weird favorite uncle I never had. I have read all his novels, short stories and autobiographies, and re-read and re-re-read a few too.
Kurt has few equals, but if you could urge a fan of his to read an author, who would you recommend?
Something Happened Joseph Heller
By his dissident/sarcastic uncle conscience role back in the day and also by hair similarity I'd recommend Mark Twain's later works esp. the short stories and essays.
Theodore Sturgeon. Real life basis for the Vonnegut character Kilgore Trout. Helluva humanist sci-fi author. Masterful short stories, novellas, and books. Basically my favorite author human.
Those are all solid.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr is my #1 hero in life. My Stepfather gave me Breakfast of Champions and it completed my life and that of my friends from that point onwards in high school.
I saw Mr Vonnegut speak live once at Marquette Univesity in Milwaukee, in 1988. He was sad that AIDS meant the death of sex. And he hated Rambo and Reagan.
He said CHEERS was a great TV show.
( I saw Burroughs and Ginsberg speak LIVE too, that same year).
Ginsberg was fantastic live. While at university, I went to hear him read on campus. A bunch of my friends were lingering outside the theater as they had been turned away (tickets were sold out). I was outside with them, and suddenly a guy came out and said, "Allen heard that a bunch of you couldn't get into the show, so he's going to come out and read some stuff for you in a minute."
Sure enough, a minute later, he came out, stood there next to a picnic table as the sun went down, and read a couple of things. He recited some poems from memory too. He shook hands with everyone, and went in to do his show. Phenomenal guy.
Vonnegut came to speak that year, too, but I didn't get a ticket to hear him (and he didn't do an outside-of-show reading!). However, he did pass by my friend Dan and I while we sat on the floor waiting to see an English professor that day. Our legs were outstretched, and even though the hall was VERY wide, he literally walked right in front of our legs and stood there silently with a cranky look on his face until we moved. Afterwards, Dan turned to me with a huge smile and said, "I'll never forget this awesome day! We just got totally dissed by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.!"
1988 or so then. Did Ginzo sing most of his? I was suprised by that and how great he was. Some persons in my distant social circle hosted him and he was horny towards the boys. Burroughs did his thing reading at a table, he was very funny when he wanted to be.
That year Hunter Thompson spoke too - he had no plan and was winging it to mixed effect, I didn't bother going to his return visit the following year.
Yep, it was 1990-ish; his most recent book before that (which he did a lot of reading from) was the White Shroud Poems. He DID sing some stuff; I had completely forgotten!!
Gary Snyder hosted the whole thing; I have never really connected with his poems, but am definitely getting this book, which will be released next month and which he wrote the foreward to: http://www.amazon.com/Ring-Bone-Collected-Expanded-Edition/dp/0872865797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337461991&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.com/Ring-Bone-Collected-Expanded-Edition/dp/0872865797/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337461991&sr=1-1)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FfDmZFFoL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Lew Welch was a contemporary of Snyder's and Ginsberg's back in the beatnik era, an incredibly talented poet. Unfortunately his body of work is fairly small, since he disappeared (presumably a suicide) at age 45.
There's an earlier edition of his book here - I've read it and carried it around so much I wore the covers off: http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Poems-Lew-Welch/dp/0912516208/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1 (http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Poems-Lew-Welch/dp/0912516208/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41h8V9CJ5pL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg)
He's not an obvious link to anyone who likes Vonnegut, but the humanism and dark humor are definitely there, and I think appreciators of Vonnegut could appreciate Lew Welch (even if they are not poetry readers).
Quote from: MadJohnShaft on April 17, 2012, 09:53:01 PM
Those are all solid.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr is my #1 hero in life. My Stepfather gave me Breakfast of Champions and it completed my life and that of my friends from that point onwards in high school.
I saw Mr Vonnegut speak live once at Marquette Univesity in Milwaukee, in 1988. He was sad that AIDS meant the death of sex. And he hated Rambo and Reagan.
He said CHEERS was a great TV show.
( I saw Burroughs and Ginsberg speak LIVE too, that same year).
Vonnegut and Douglas Adams were my favorites when I was in High School. Haven't read them since, probably should rectify that.
Philip K. Dick. I'm just getting started reading him; he wrote A Scanner Darkly. Vonnegut Jr. is definitely my favorite author and am currently reading Hocus Pocus.