Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
For this first-ever paperback edition of
If This Isn't Nice, What Is?, the beloved collection of Kurt Vonnegut's campus speeches, editor Dan Wakefield has unearthed three early gems as a sort of prequel--the anti-war Moratorium Day speech he gave in Barnstable, Massachusetts, in October 1969, a 1970 speech to Bennington College recommending "skylarking," and a 1974 speech to Hobart and William Smith Colleges about the importance of extended families in an age of loneliness.
Vonnegut himself never graduated college, so his words of admonition, advice, and hilarity always carried the delight, gentle irony, and generosity of someone savoring the promise of his fellow citizens--especially the young--rather than his own achievements.
Selected and introduced by fellow novelist and friend Dan Wakefield, the speeches in If This Isn't Nice, What Is? comprise the first and only book of Vonnegut's speeches. There are fourteen speeches, eleven given at colleges, one to the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, one on the occasion of Vonnegut receiving the Carl Sandburg Award, and now the anti-war speech he gave just months after the publication of Slaughterhouse-Five, as well as from related short personal essays--eighteen chapters in all. In each of these, Vonnegut takes pains to find the few things worth saying and a conversational voice to say them in that isn't heavy-handed or pretentious or glib, but funny, joyful, and serious too, even if sometimes without seeming so.
Synopsis
A collection of 15 graduation speeches and treasured wisdom from the New York Times-bestselling literary icon and author of Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions
"Like that of] his literary ancestor Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut's crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted."--A.O. Scott, The New York Times Book Review
Master storyteller and satirist Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most in-demand commencement speakers of his time. His words were unfailingly insightful and witty, and they stayed with audience members long after graduation. Chosen and introduced by fellow novelist and friend Dan Wakefield, a selection of speeches and essays in this expanded 3rd edition include:
- "What to Do When You Have the Power; In the Meantime, Remember to Skylark "
- "Why Social Justice Does More Than Art to Nourish the American Dream"
- "How to Make Money and Find Love "
- "Somebody Should've Told Me Not to Join a Fraternity"
- "How to Have Something Most Billionaires Don't"
Hilarious, razor-sharp, freewheeling, and at times deeply serious, these reflections are ideal not just for graduates but for anyone undergoing what Vonnegut would call their "long-delayed puberty ceremony"--marking the long and challenging passage to full-time adulthood.