Where do I get my ideas from? You might as well have asked that of Beethoven. He was goofing around in Germany like everybody else, and all of a sudden this stuff came gushing out of him. It was music. I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana, and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization. (Backwards City Review, 2004.)
If you’re wondering where that disgust was coming from, I probably only need to a highlight a previous post of ours: 22-Year-Old P.O.W. Kurt Vonnegut Writes Home from World War II: “I’ll Be Damned If It Was Worth It”. There you can read all about how he was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge; spent time in a Dresden work camp known yes, as “Slaughterhouse Five;” survived the Dresden bombing; saw many other atrocities along the way, revealing civilization at its worst. You can hear Vonnegut read from Slaughterhouse-Five here.
H/T @Iygia_Maria)
Related Content:
Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Tips on How to Write a Good Short Story
“Wear Sunscreen”: The Story Behind the Commencement Speech That Kurt Vonnegut Never Gave
Kurt Vonnegut Writes an Offbeat Contract Outlining His Chores Around the House, 1947
Sour little man, what?
Or rather a civilization with great potential, but which is still rotten to its core.
You sound like you have led a privileged life. One in which you’ve never so much as scraped an elbow or had your face rubbed in dirt by the school bully. nTry reading a little more about Vonnegut before you reveal to others the vast extent of your abilities to incorrectly and with insufficient evidence surmise the totality of a person’s psychological makeup, summed up in three, woefully superficial words.
Vonnegut dares us to confront issues and inspire change. Sour little men often do. Vonnegut cares.
Does anyone know where I can get this quote picture made into a canvas poster?
No, you’re mixed up, you shallow little philistine