Mark Vonnegut’s new edition of previously unpublished Kurt Vonnegut writings, Armageddon in Retrospect
Eden Express described the turbulent mental landscape Kurt’s son travelled during the hippie era, joining a commune, watching his father get famous, and ending up in a mental hospital. When Eden Express was published in 1975 it was billed as “a memoir of schizophrenia”, but the current edition explains that the diagnosis of schizophrenia is more strictly defined today, and that Mark Vonnegut’s illness would now be classified as manic-depressive (which is less severe).
He’s now sixty-something, a medical doctor, with a bright and sincere speaking style that easily wins over the large Barnes and Noble crowd. He seems highly contented, proud of his family, and proud of his career as a medical doctor. He shares his father’s thickly hooded eyes, though he is clean-shaven and his slicked-back hair bears no resemblance to Kurt’s curly Aryan-fro.
The words he read tonight were heartfelt — you can read them in the new book — and there were a few moments when he suddenly maniacally laughed and we got a glimpse of the unhinged protaganist of Eden Express for a moment or two. And, certainly, a glimpse of the enigmatic son of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five as well.
I’ve said before that you may be able to judge a writer by his or her children. If so, then this modest literary son is yet another credit (as if more were needed) to the great career of Kurt Vonnegut.
(I’ll be reviewing Armageddon in Retrospect soon for another publication. And, once again, I apologize for my continuing work as the worst cell-phone photographer in New York City.
4 Responses
worst cell phone
worst cell phone photographer, but excellent live input. Thanks so much. This is exactly the live, hot information I crave.
Looking forward to more about Mark V.
The Eden Express
It’s a
The Eden Express
It’s a humble living
At Atlantic City
It’s either twenty minutes
Or hell’s eternity
The bus is runnin’ late
I have got no name
This inconvenience
Makes it hard to concentrate
Sunken shaden porches lead to Taj Mahal
Where grimy days sleep on the boardwalk
I’m a gamblin’ man
I’m a chameleon
The slot machine women
The sea-wind’s an old man
Merv Griffin is a poet
And me, I am stoic
It’s about real estate,
It’s not the end of the game
Yeah, old “Marcus” is looking
Yeah, old “Marcus” is looking distinguished. He’s a far cry from when he streaked around in the Canadian woods. Oh yeah. I, too, read THE EDEN EXPRESS. Good for Mark, he’s promoting his Dad, Kurt. Mark’s a doctor…really put that “illness” behind him. As for me, I wear a beard like his Dad. I’m using Kurt/Mark as a model for how to come up smelling like a rose after hard times. Hey, come to think of it, Bob Dylan’s a pretty good model, too. Some of my heroes have remained intact and wholesome.
My first nonfiction book is:
My first nonfiction book is: “Liberating LIberals.” Its subtitle is: “a synthesis of Nietzsche and Jesus, Vonnegut and Marx (Groucho, not Karl). It uses Vonneguts hilarious and eviscerating sci fi vignettes to explain and lighten philosophi al isights.. First two chapters and videos of some of my talks can be had for free at liberatingliberals.I’ve also written a sci fi history of religion, “Billy Graham’s Glorious Scam,” using Vonnegut’s unique genre, and am working the “The Secret Dreams of ML King.” Moving to New York in April of 2013 and looking for speaking gigs.
My elevator blurb is that “Liberating Liberals” will catapult you to the exhilirating and terrifying outer limits of freethinking, then glide you hilariously back to the inner infinity of philosophical calm.”