Kurt Vonnegut interview on His Life and Career (1983)

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  • Опубліковано 28 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 206

  • @ManufacturingIntellect
    @ManufacturingIntellect  6 років тому +16

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    • @dr.m.hfuhruhurr84
      @dr.m.hfuhruhurr84 4 роки тому

      "Fates Worse Than Death" -K.V.; also most worthwhile

    • @BrianCarnevaleB26
      @BrianCarnevaleB26 2 роки тому +1

      One of his famous quotes was "We are what we pretend to be so we must be very careful what we pretend to be!"
      Irony and truth was his calling card.

  • @Strik9
    @Strik9 10 місяців тому +37

    My favorite line,"The purpose of life, to be the eyes, ears, and conscience of the creator of the universe."

  • @danielweiner7251
    @danielweiner7251 8 місяців тому +20

    I have rediscovered Kurt Vonnegut. My older brother died recently and I remember he at least at one time in his life was a staunch fan of and admired Vonnegut so I have been rediscovering his books and I really am crazy about him so glad I reread his books, I read them when I was a teen just our of curiosity now I get so much more out of them as a guy in middle age, I do think Breakfast of Champions is my favorrite thank you for the interview You don't know how much I appreciate it.

  • @gallopingmajor4637
    @gallopingmajor4637 6 років тому +136

    God bless you Mr. Vonnegut! See you on Tralfamadore

  • @kathand1729
    @kathand1729 3 роки тому +124

    I've been pretty dead the last couple months. I think reading Vonnegut's books is helping me feel again. I haven't seriously read anything in years but I thought I'd finish Miramar by Mahfouz and it just made me wanna read more, so I picked up Cat's Cradle. I'd been wanting to read something by KV for a long time, and I'm glad I did. Now I've been reading fairly regularly again.

    • @ghgffhg8525
      @ghgffhg8525 3 роки тому +17

      I found cats cradle in jail. I had been pretty dead too.

    • @kathand1729
      @kathand1729 3 роки тому +11

      @@ghgffhg8525 I could only imagine. Bless. Hope things are going well for you.

    • @EndrChe
      @EndrChe 3 місяці тому

      @@kathand1729Miramar any good?

    • @kathand1729
      @kathand1729 3 місяці тому +1

      @@EndrChe Miramar was great, I've been thinking about re-reading it. It's a very fun story and I was not expecting it to go where it did. It's very easy to forget it's a murder mystery at the start.

    • @EndrChe
      @EndrChe 3 місяці тому

      @@kathand1729 Thanks, I’ll check it out. Always looking for new reads.

  • @mungomidge1090
    @mungomidge1090 Рік тому +34

    I read most of his books 30 or 40 years ago and many things still remain with me to this day, I often think of
    “Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
    Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
    Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
    Man got to tell himself he understand.”

    • @tiasara5967
      @tiasara5967 Рік тому +1

      Please read them again you’ll be so glad you did!😊

    • @joshmusic9766
      @joshmusic9766 Рік тому

      He has so many great ideas. Sure, he has themes that many stories are centered on, but there are nuggets of wisdom screaming off each line.

  • @-8l-924
    @-8l-924 4 роки тому +34

    videos like this make me grateful for what an incredible innovation/resource UA-cam is. “if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is”

  • @ianmartinezcassmeyer
    @ianmartinezcassmeyer 5 років тому +417

    I'm so happy I didn't have Vonnegut shoved in my face in high school. I likely would've come to loath him. Instead, I found him on my own, and I'm so glad I did.

    • @MrRayWilliamJohnson9
      @MrRayWilliamJohnson9 5 років тому +1

      So true

    • @lopezpresentsthestories8624
      @lopezpresentsthestories8624 5 років тому +12

      I had to read it in HS. Luckily I was too high while I read it so I was able to enjoy it years later.

    • @MRSPACECAT
      @MRSPACECAT 5 років тому +1

      I had it shoved in my face in high school but with me I really enjoy him then most in my English class

    • @Shloandsteady
      @Shloandsteady 4 роки тому +3

      This is so true. I was browsing through my Kindle app and had downloaded a bunch of ebooks two years ago. One of them was Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut will find you at the weirdest of places.

    • @haskellbob
      @haskellbob 4 роки тому +2

      Me too. I can just imagine the tripe they must teach about him in high school! As soon as the "scholars" get a hold of a writer things that could have been understood become murky and impossible to really understand.

  • @harrisonmccartney4878
    @harrisonmccartney4878 3 роки тому +24

    Kurt Vonnegut is one of those people where you automatically know what he's going to sound like before he even opens his mouth just based off of the way he looks, and I love that!

  • @tiasara5967
    @tiasara5967 Рік тому +7

    Long ago l read somebody say that slaughterhouse 5 was the best novel about WWll ever written. Many years later l still feel like that is a legitimate statement. I love this man so much it makes my stomach hurt.

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому +66

    An Argentinean introduced me to Vonnegut. The cute girl in college math gave a greater thrust to pick him up. Vonnegut is everyone's hero who reads him.
    🤘🤘

  • @azazel2490
    @azazel2490 3 роки тому +34

    I am Polish and Kurt Vonnegut is closest person in my life, although I do not always entirely agree with him. So it goes.

  • @liammcooper
    @liammcooper 4 роки тому +22

    37:30 when talking about the science in Cat's Cradle, I only learned the other day that Vonnegut's brother was a scientist who studied seeding clouds.

  • @tomajortom
    @tomajortom 6 років тому +48

    Thank you very much. You've been missed.

    • @ManufacturingIntellect
      @ManufacturingIntellect  6 років тому +8

      Thank you! Expect much more soon!

    • @tomajortom
      @tomajortom 6 років тому +6

      Manufacturing Intellect I'm so glad to hear that. Welcome back!

  • @kristinezanno9085
    @kristinezanno9085 4 роки тому +14

    One of the greats of humanity. Thanks for sharing this.

  • @JXY2019
    @JXY2019 3 роки тому +19

    Vonnegut has a unique and cool accent. You can hear touches of his Hoosier upbringing but his speech also has a touch of old fashioned upper class

    • @reidwhitton6248
      @reidwhitton6248 2 роки тому +3

      Same for Gore Vidal. They come from better than average stock.

  • @TheJacklwilliams
    @TheJacklwilliams 3 роки тому +20

    I've never read Vonnegut. I stumbled through this maze due to research on a similar subject and via the algorithym... I'm compelled after watching this to read all his works. Thank you...

    • @anthonymorales842
      @anthonymorales842 3 роки тому +2

      likewise although his name was part of the literary vernacular when I was growing up. This interview dispels my preconceived notion of who he is. Not a bitter grumpy man, but a person with a sense of biting humor regarding humanity

    • @mistere5204
      @mistere5204 3 роки тому

      @@anthonymorales842 read.

    • @anthonymorales842
      @anthonymorales842 3 роки тому

      @@mistere5204 Who's says I don't . I've read some of his stuff.

    • @danacoleman4007
      @danacoleman4007 Рік тому

      And......

    • @DangerfieldChris
      @DangerfieldChris 2 місяці тому

      @@danacoleman4007what a dolt you are.

  • @alcosmic
    @alcosmic 5 років тому +169

    If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.

  • @captop12
    @captop12 5 років тому +37

    The best documentary I've seen in quite a while. It was brilliantly conceived and executed, A+. Thanks for sharing.

  • @solitarianihilista1454
    @solitarianihilista1454 5 місяців тому +5

    During the segment on the bombing of Dresden 80 years ago an ad popped up with graphic footage of the bombing of Ukraine today. So it goes.

  • @iampaoyt
    @iampaoyt 3 роки тому +7

    ONE OF MY FAVORITE WRITERS.

  • @brianburke5570
    @brianburke5570 6 років тому +23

    im so happy that this is available. thank you for posting this

  • @barbarawillis5187
    @barbarawillis5187 2 роки тому +5

    Thinking back, I enjoyed reading Kurt Vonnegut books. I had a stack of them.

    • @Tharg_the_mighty
      @Tharg_the_mighty Рік тому +2

      Maybe go back and read them again 😉 I’ve re-read my collection several times. Most do repay a second or third reading, I think.

  • @harmonicparadox2055
    @harmonicparadox2055 5 років тому +17

    Note how they play Schubert's "Trout" Quartet in the background.

  • @GuitarGrrrella
    @GuitarGrrrella 5 років тому +14

    Gosh, I wish he were still around. Would love to have had the chance to meet him. If he'd grown up today he might not have become a writer, since in his day he was paid a lot of money for writing stories. That doesn't happen to new authors anymore. :(

    • @wimgrundyearth5753
      @wimgrundyearth5753 3 роки тому +5

      But who survives mass killings of over 100,000 any more?

    • @ghgffhg8525
      @ghgffhg8525 3 роки тому +5

      I think he would have wrote regardless. But maybe he wouldn't have had certain experiences that made his works so profound.

  • @Ekkobelli
    @Ekkobelli 3 роки тому +5

    Thank you so very much for uploading this. This was one of the best things I‘ve seen these years.

  • @waltersolomon9049
    @waltersolomon9049 5 років тому +41

    _So it goes_

  • @pixelwash9707
    @pixelwash9707 6 років тому +17

    Thanks so much for posting this - ideas that still apply today.

  • @naturalistmind
    @naturalistmind Рік тому +4

    How is Vonnegut precisely the man i would expect him to be, awesome.

  • @dwdavis5977
    @dwdavis5977 2 роки тому +3

    Thanks for sharing your stories!

  • @johnparadise3134
    @johnparadise3134 6 років тому +13

    33:08 “Earthlings are the great explainers”

  • @rachelthompson9324
    @rachelthompson9324 4 роки тому +28

    Vonnegut is why I became a writer. My short story collection, Stalking Kilgore Trout, is dedicated to his memory. My forth coming book could have been written by Trout.

    • @PWNDpresents
      @PWNDpresents 3 роки тому

      Alright, Rachel Thompson.

    • @Mordecai9052
      @Mordecai9052 3 роки тому

      I will find it.

    • @anthonymorales842
      @anthonymorales842 3 роки тому +1

      Fantastic, like others have stated I will look for your work.

    • @rachelthompson9324
      @rachelthompson9324 3 роки тому

      @@anthonymorales842 Cool , thanks

    • @barryflick54
      @barryflick54 3 роки тому

      Rachel Thompson....really...that can't be your real name??

  • @lemonpaper
    @lemonpaper 5 років тому +7

    Wow! I can’t believe this exists and I just got to watch it!

  • @MegaAnzora
    @MegaAnzora 3 роки тому +5

    This is the best video on UA-cam!!!!!!!!!

    • @MegaAnzora
      @MegaAnzora 3 роки тому +2

      I was high when I wrote this but I stand by it

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому +4

    Thanks for sharing this.

  • @SCB-dd4io
    @SCB-dd4io Рік тому +1

    Thank you for posting…great stuff

  • @humanliberty1
    @humanliberty1 3 місяці тому

    Most people don’t know KV predicted UBI due to human obsolescence at the hands of technology in his first novel, Player Piano, back in the 50s. Idk if he was the first to do so in writing , but he was well ahead of the mainstream.

  • @Bill-cv1xu
    @Bill-cv1xu 2 роки тому +2

    Happy birthday Kurt.

  • @doublerainbow-44
    @doublerainbow-44 3 роки тому +1

    Thank you!

  • @bryn5108
    @bryn5108 2 роки тому

    A creative and quirky take on a great writer. Thanks for sharing.

  • @fjrjdjjjcdjjdj7282
    @fjrjdjjjcdjjdj7282 5 років тому +11

    They play "Another Green World" by Brian Eno in the beginning

  • @nicoleklimper8596
    @nicoleklimper8596 5 років тому +14

    they dont make them like kurt vonnegut any more.

  • @trippmccalyster3869
    @trippmccalyster3869 3 роки тому +7

    And finally humans all got together to put an end to the glacier question. With a combined effort seated mostly in comfort activities, driving and air conditioning, things of that nature. Humans were able to collectlively melt away at the glaciers one billionth of a meter at a time. War was still unsolved at this time as it would remain to the end of their species. But on the subject of melting glaciers, the humans had won. So it goes.

  • @deeliciousplum
    @deeliciousplum 3 роки тому +1

    I do hope to find Nigel Finch's original BBC link to this video. I always feel icky when not promoting the original content creator(s) of something that I am re-uploading and due to how much of an impression the content had on me. Thank you for sharing this re-upload. Now to find the original. 📽️🎬🎞️

  • @glossypots
    @glossypots 3 роки тому +22

    What a fabulous imagination. This documentary is nearly 40 years old and all the problems he mentions war, pollution, even food obsession, just get worse.

    • @lavalamps9007
      @lavalamps9007 Рік тому +3

      from one of his speeches, he also said that he wished he could lie about being an optimist but things are just going to get worse and worse. first time reading that line, i felt relieved because finally someone said it. but then it's all just crumbling down lmao.

    • @EducationOptions
      @EducationOptions 3 місяці тому

      Because more people need to know #StatismIsGoingDown and #VoluntaryismIsTheFuture

  • @mhbackman
    @mhbackman 5 років тому +2

    Love the little Brian Eno intro tune!

  • @aerowashburns6004
    @aerowashburns6004 Рік тому +1

    25:00 I love his reaction to the punchlines

  • @ETHANWHATSUP
    @ETHANWHATSUP 3 місяці тому +1

    I found vonnegut because I to am a veteran, "unstuck" in time. We call it crptsd now.

  • @rickyvela8788
    @rickyvela8788 4 роки тому +4

    I thought Slaughterhouse-5 was great. Gonna start Mother Night soon. Thanks to my sister's boyfriend for recommending the books to me

  • @tablighibayans
    @tablighibayans 2 роки тому +2

    45:30 40 years on, nothing has changed

  • @itsjustme4371
    @itsjustme4371 4 роки тому +9

    Kurt is up in heaven now

  • @EnvisionerWill
    @EnvisionerWill 4 роки тому +1

    I would pay good money for a copy of "Now It Can Be Told" with that cover illustration, even if the actual text provided is just a page or two excerpted straight from "Breakfast of Champions".

  • @sammcalilly107
    @sammcalilly107 5 місяців тому

    i appreciate the brief eno music clip at the beginning of this

  • @thehighpriestess978
    @thehighpriestess978 Рік тому +1

    "Firearms as a health problem". Imagine if he was doing the interview now, where it seems in the US you might have the same chance of catching a bullet as you would some diseases. How incredibly sad, that it has gotten to this point.

  • @cartoonvandal
    @cartoonvandal 8 місяців тому

    I once dedicated an entire unpublished novel to Vonnegut. While I can't be entirely sure, I believe it was called 'Golf farts and ghastly carts'.

  • @jamesjun6393
    @jamesjun6393 Рік тому +3

    Mr. Vonnegut deserves a much better documentary on his life and work.

  • @powerranger2467
    @powerranger2467 3 роки тому +5

    I found him in my procrastination.

    • @ghgffhg8525
      @ghgffhg8525 3 роки тому

      I came across cats cradle while being robbed of my procrastination.

  • @RiverFlotsam
    @RiverFlotsam 3 роки тому +2

    My people!

  • @misterkefir
    @misterkefir 9 місяців тому

    A great one.

  • @sarumandali
    @sarumandali 3 роки тому +4

    " I was a great believer in truth .... scientific truth. Then truth was dropped on Hiroshima."

  • @ES_Glenn
    @ES_Glenn 5 років тому +1

    I love this

  • @pooteeweet7848
    @pooteeweet7848 4 роки тому +1

    They deff did not show this man justice when I was in school

  • @henrikibsen1009
    @henrikibsen1009 3 місяці тому

    7:43 - I just love how silly this passage is

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому +4

    read Vonnegut and everything else.

  • @quarterlifecrisis9241
    @quarterlifecrisis9241 4 роки тому +1

    How can I get this on DVD?

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому +2

    great believer of truth. Let truth be what truth is.

  • @CTangeloe
    @CTangeloe 5 років тому

    Happy Bday Kurt :/

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому +2

    Be rational even against a popular sect.
    Where's our heavyweight philosophers? Ideas always need to be discussed.

  • @luc7937
    @luc7937 6 років тому +2

    love

  • @tonyspoetry
    @tonyspoetry Рік тому

    Intresting film

  • @jatin461
    @jatin461 4 роки тому +1

    So it goes.

  • @Ruylopez778
    @Ruylopez778 4 роки тому

    It's chilling to see that kid with a gun, even though it's obviously being filmed for the documentary

  • @danlhendl
    @danlhendl 4 місяці тому

    Yes this one too

  • @EndOfEntertainment
    @EndOfEntertainment 5 років тому

    Cool stuff :)

  • @FathomlessJoy
    @FathomlessJoy 4 роки тому +2

    Hundreds of thousand vaporized into only shadows instantly in Hiroshima.

  • @donniedemarco
    @donniedemarco Рік тому +1

    1:07 YOO! Stephen King?!

  • @geoffreynhill2833
    @geoffreynhill2833 Рік тому +2

    KV should be required reading for the twenty-eight + 🤔 Unforgettable. (from Green Fire, UK) 🌈🦉

  • @yesgregyes1416
    @yesgregyes1416 6 років тому +18

    Spent last summer re-re-re-reading "Mother Night." Here's the moral of the story: we are what we pretend to be so we must be careful what we pretend to be. I asked myself what we're pretending to be. Here's what I came up with: a reality TV audience.
    So it goes.
    #Vonnegut #MAGA

    • @PatrickHogan
      @PatrickHogan 5 років тому +12

      YesGregYes Based on the socialism in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and Jailbird combined with his feelings on Bush and A Man Without a Country, I think Kurt would be ashamed having MAGA referenced in regards to him.

    • @anthonyr.9566
      @anthonyr.9566 5 років тому +1

      Kurt woulda hated Trump and the Republican party. I don't like him much but this is disrespect!

    • @telescopicS627
      @telescopicS627 5 років тому

      Vonnegut joked about sacrificing conservatives in satanic rituals.

    • @g-ratedhistory8233
      @g-ratedhistory8233 3 роки тому +1

      He wrote how he would have liked free healthcare and debt cancellation, yikes

    • @christopherhendrickson221
      @christopherhendrickson221 3 роки тому +1

      “If Jesus were alive today, he’d be crucified, by the way of the electric chair, for his liberal beliefs.”
      -Vonnegut
      Vonnegut would’ve of been mortified and humored by a buffoon like Trump. Have you read any of his novels?

  • @anthonymorales842
    @anthonymorales842 3 роки тому

    Firearms a terrible health risk and they should not exist like smallpox - 1983. Even back then guns viewed as a health risk

  • @jamesturley1980
    @jamesturley1980 4 роки тому

    and so it goes

  • @gregorygarcia7807
    @gregorygarcia7807 2 роки тому +3

    The only way to cure an absurd world is to time your mind with an absurd author. It may not fix anything but you'll be in sync to accept the next absurdity with minimal damage to the thinking thing. one may not agree or accept the absurdity but you'll be less inclined to jump off that inclined plane. Who's to say?

  • @fuzzydunlop4513
    @fuzzydunlop4513 2 роки тому

    Eno at the beginning. nice

  • @robertanderson3905
    @robertanderson3905 5 місяців тому

    HOW DIFFRENT SEA ORG JETSUNS WOULD BE HAD KURT STARTED THE RELIGION

  • @telescopicS627
    @telescopicS627 5 років тому +13

    "They paid very high prices for stories"
    Nowadays you publish a blog for free and consider yourself lucky to get even 100 views, let alone a single penny. Sad times.

    • @charlie-obrien
      @charlie-obrien 3 роки тому +2

      Everything must now be a screenplay for Netflix. No more casual and leisurely thumbing through a novel that makes you consider a different view of your existence.
      We now have Vonnegut and the other giants of 200 years of literature the way that opera lovers have Wagner, Puccini and Mozart.

  • @keithmclean3627
    @keithmclean3627 7 місяців тому

    We are all peepholes. Genius.😊

  • @justinrowland5191
    @justinrowland5191 2 роки тому

    his uncle Alex almost went down though.

  • @davidreames8752
    @davidreames8752 2 роки тому

    *

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому

    trained to take an attitude. I wish I'd learned that sooner. Al, ehh and sorry?

  • @allencollins6031
    @allencollins6031 Рік тому +1

    Lou Reed

  • @EnvisionerWill
    @EnvisionerWill 4 роки тому

    LOL...that is NOT how that nursery rhyme goes, Kurt!

  • @finlaybishop5974
    @finlaybishop5974 3 роки тому

    whats the introduction somg

  • @SSkunk123
    @SSkunk123 2 роки тому +3

    Nothing to do with the great Vonnegut but a correction that I feel to address. At 10:20, That is a “Cockatoo” not a “Parakeet” and most importantly that cage is too small and the wrong shape for a Cockatoo. Please do not think this is alright, it is blatantly cruel.

  • @Marius_vanderLubbe
    @Marius_vanderLubbe 4 місяці тому

    It is more the fact that life is just a horrible cycle of repeats after the age of 15 or 16.

  • @omefea8501
    @omefea8501 3 роки тому +1

    Man... Dresdan was hell.

  • @ghgffhg8525
    @ghgffhg8525 3 роки тому

    Did anyone else notice how hot that lady was?! "55:57"

    • @milart12
      @milart12 2 роки тому

      I think that it is Christie Hefner, Hugh's daughter.

  • @withminzoo
    @withminzoo 4 роки тому

    7:35

  • @ruizt
    @ruizt 3 роки тому

    Science....

  • @tomtsu5923
    @tomtsu5923 4 місяці тому +2

    This was terrible

  • @EMDrecs1
    @EMDrecs1 5 місяців тому

    I’m sorry but that’s NOT what Trout looks like.

  • @recoverybeer8165
    @recoverybeer8165 6 років тому +1

    Biggest fan and worst critic.