Kurt Vonnegut was a true artist with an unrivaled literary voice. This man lived an incredible life, one that will forever be immortalized in his many short stories, novels, and essays. The day after Kurt Vonnegut passed in 2007, I was set to give a presentation on Vonnegut's life and works in my high school english class. It crushed me to have to add "and so it goes" to the end of the presentation. This is one of my favorite of Vonnegut's speeches, wish I could have seen him speak in person!
I'm ashamed to admit that I only recently discovered the genius of Kurt Vonnegut. I can't explain how much impact he's had on my life, even though I was a latecomer to his writing.
If things had not worked out for Kurt Vonnegut as an author he likely would have had a brilliant career as a standup comedian. His jokes and timing are spot-on. I can imagine growing up watching a cutting-edge but very insightful sitcom called Vonnegut.
One of the great humorists in American history... "What, incidentally, was a pregnant mother of two doing, operating a vacuum cleaner on Mother's Day? She was practically asking for a bullet between the eyes!"
Deadeye Dick? Also, now that I'm seeing that quote again, if it's actually the one I think it is, I'm realizing it might be a reference to the way people talk about rape.
@skyhouse Well, he was pointing out how that women, even on the day they're supposed to be celebrated, still feel compelled to do housework, and for that, they deserve to be punished. It's a commentary on the unfairness of these kinds of gender roles and the place of women in society. It's classic Vonnegut.
almost word to word similar to his lecture at the Case Western Univ when he's older. But damn … what do I care … if it isn't nice, I don't know what is! Thank you Mr. Vonnegut. You make my day, Sir!
Elsewhere Vonnegut wrote 8 rules for the short story and ended it by saying that Flannery O'Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that. The first rule was "Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted." Vonnegut's stories always did that, although the dark irony of his stories often had characters near the bottom of the chart from B to E. So it goes.
Thank you so much for putting this up ! I have read and reread Vonnegut's novels for many many years and have practically memorized his earlier works verbatim. He taught at the Famous Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa in the same building where I took some writing courses when I was a chemistry student there and when I found that out, I was ecstatic !!! What a brilliant, funny, compassionate man !
During years I lived in IC 2 times in late 1970’s I found myself across the remainders table in the Book Store in the student Union from a fellow in an old crumpled raincoat and I thought that he looked a lot like Kurt Vonnegut ( my fave author). Then I went to a visiting lecture by him. There he was ! The fellow from the remainder table! He did photograph a bit different from in person. It was a great lecture! I think he must have visited friends from time to time.
In high school my friend and i both read Vonnegut books for a English class presentation. We decided that Cars Cradle and Galapagos were ant technolgoy stories. So we collected some scrap conputer bits (this was late 80s) and other electronics. We brought them and some hammers along to class. We did our presentation on the books and their meaning and wrapped up with several minutes of chaotic smashing of the electronics. We sent bits flying theought the class and our fellow students took cover. We raged and screamed but the otherwise elderly teacher was tickled pink. We got great grades, even though we really only intended to make a huge mess and have some fun. Mission accomplished.
I wonder if that also fits the "series", pick the critical points to cut off the story so people keep coming back for more and inevitably end up at the happiness bar!
Thankfully he was an American. *The majority of the rest of the world would have forced him to do something other than what he loved and likely killed him...* _Lovely socialism._ Most of his life's work was also here so most of his teaching was actually American only.
Deadstraight crazy... are you suggesting that his line of work was for socialism? Maybe you don't realize that what you're saying is that this lecture is a direct result of his wo4k for socialist propaganda then; which makes my comment all the more poignant, and you have justified my words despite your laughter. Problem is, the tools of propaganda have another, more well-known description with which you may be familiar, and I challenge you to show that I have used any of them; they are afterall more commonly known as *Logical fallacies.*
I listened to this for a voice sample, trying to figure out his parts in Ken Burns' The Civil War. I was surprised - I didn't realize he was a Hoosier, and it answered my question. I stayed for the essay, and I'm glad I did.
"Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut attended Cornell University, but dropped out in January 1943 and enlisted in the United States Army. He was deployed to Europe to fight in World War II, and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was interned in Dresden and survived the Allied bombing of the city by taking refuge in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned."
Excellent. Perfect for a first year course on the short story. You know, the unit in which you explain how artificial the traditional Western story structure is.
I think it is the reputation of the brilliant man that is driving the thunderous applause for what was otherwise a funny take on story arcs. Any takers for that appraisal?
Does anybody have more of this lecture, where he goes on to discuss the story curves of Kafka stories, aboriginal legends, and Hamlet? I've read about it, but I'd like to see him giving it, if I could find it.
I see the first line he had drawn, is kinda like a cosine, and the 2rd is a sin, and the third are the combination of step function and exponential “e” crazy happiness for the princess I see 😊
Were the people in the audience on laughing gas? Mr. Vonnegut was making a serious and legitimage point in his lecture. Anyone taking the time to digest this information and has the ability to express themselves with written words, could indeed earn a million dollars from the basic idea.
+pagamenews It is perfectly possible to make legitimate points and do so in a humorous manner, as Mr. Vonnegut does in this video. If you didn't laugh, you're probably the one in your social circles everyone says has no sense of humor.
@soupazninvasion you can project anything to something simpler, there is just the loss of information, until it is so simple that you can't differentiate between a graph for Cinderella and one for Inception. It also depends to what relation you graph it like the case with fortune for Cinderella. You could go ahead and graph Cinderellas change in Family structure. Funny thing is, movies became more intricate and complex BY applying statistics and formulas.
@qwertzu3 Just the shape of a waveform. At the most basic level sound, electrical current, light, anything that travels as a wave is comprised of tens to thousands of different waveforms that follow the standard undulating curve we're used to seeing. When you combine that many different frequencies and amplitudes, you get the more jagged, random wave patterns you'd actually record with an instrument.
i read your comment, chuckled expecting to chuckle when i heard that part; took a sip of coffee - bad fuckin idea. i hear the line and VERY NEARLY spit out the whole fucking gulp!
This is really cool. It's like a cross between a college lecture and a stand-up comedy routine!
Well, sometimes the roles are reversed.
look up the video where he's older and it has spanish ("castellano") subtitles. he includes a shakespearean story "arch".
This story and the story of Hamlet can be found in his book a man without a country.
Fun is our brains favourite way to learn 😁👍
A version of this exists in "A Man Without a Country" where he discusses Hamlet as well.
Such a wonderful dry humor. He is one of my all time favorites. "Goddamnit!"
"B" stands for beginning. "E" stands for... electricity.
Shockeye00
ya
Mine too.
incredible.
Kurt Vonnegut was a true artist with an unrivaled literary voice. This man lived an incredible life, one that will forever be immortalized in his many short stories, novels, and essays. The day after Kurt Vonnegut passed in 2007, I was set to give a presentation on Vonnegut's life and works in my high school english class. It crushed me to have to add "and so it goes" to the end of the presentation.
This is one of my favorite of Vonnegut's speeches, wish I could have seen him speak in person!
Reading "and so it goes" just sent a shiver down my body
🥲
Totally Agree! One of the Best literary voices around. Thank You Kurt Vonnegut ❤
I did in circa 1980 at the U of Iowa. It was forever memorable.
And so it went.
I'm ashamed to admit that I only recently discovered the genius of Kurt Vonnegut. I can't explain how much impact he's had on my life, even though I was a latecomer to his writing.
I was fortunate enough to attend one of his speaking engagements. I can’t imagine his take on these dark times… he is sorely missed.
Whatever his take would have been, it would have ended with: "And so it goes..."
"Off-scale happiness" sounds a lot better than "lives happily ever after"
I started reading Vonnegut when I was 15 and I have to say it introduced me to a huge amount of knowledge. There will never be another like him.
I wonder how he would map out the curve for slaughter house 5
@conorwellman8592 I pretty well know how he'd map a curve for one of today's slaughterhouses.
If things had not worked out for Kurt Vonnegut as an author he likely would have had a brilliant career as a standup comedian. His jokes and timing are spot-on. I can imagine growing up watching a cutting-edge but very insightful sitcom called Vonnegut.
"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt"
Wow! What treasure to have this lecture preserved. I didn't realize he had such a sense of humor.
His humor is a big part of him! His sense of irony and humor often appear in many of his literature pieces I highly recommend them.
One of the great humorists in American history...
"What, incidentally, was a pregnant mother of two doing, operating a vacuum cleaner on Mother's Day? She was practically asking for a bullet between the eyes!"
Deadeye Dick? Also, now that I'm seeing that quote again, if it's actually the one I think it is, I'm realizing it might be a reference to the way people talk about rape.
Which narrative was this?!
@@isabelthedying "actually"
@skyhouse Well, he was pointing out how that women, even on the day they're supposed to be celebrated, still feel compelled to do housework, and for that, they deserve to be punished. It's a commentary on the unfairness of these kinds of gender roles and the place of women in society. It's classic Vonnegut.
almost word to word similar to his lecture at the Case Western Univ when he's older. But damn … what do I care … if it isn't nice, I don't know what is! Thank you Mr. Vonnegut. You make my day, Sir!
Elsewhere Vonnegut wrote 8 rules for the short story and ended it by saying that Flannery O'Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that. The first rule was "Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted." Vonnegut's stories always did that, although the dark irony of his stories often had characters near the bottom of the chart from B to E. So it goes.
01:25 "Somebody gets into trouble - gets out of it again." He just described 'life'.
Not mine. I'm stuck in trouble.
@@jamesmcinnis208 I think that's how it actually goes for most of us.
@@20000dino That's how it goes.
Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite author. I'd recommend any of his novels, but Player Piano, and The Sirens of Titan are particularily excellent.
Thank you so much for putting this up !
I have read and reread Vonnegut's novels for many many years and have practically memorized his earlier works verbatim. He taught at the Famous Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa in the same building where I took some writing courses when I was a chemistry student there and when I found that out, I was ecstatic !!! What a brilliant, funny, compassionate man !
Want some cool trivia? He worked at GE and knew Langmuir. His brother was a scientist there.
During years I lived in IC 2 times in late 1970’s I found myself across the remainders table in the Book Store in the student Union from a fellow in an old crumpled raincoat and I thought that he looked a lot like Kurt Vonnegut ( my fave author). Then I went to a visiting lecture by him. There he was ! The fellow from the remainder table! He did photograph a bit different from in person. It was a great lecture! I think he must have visited friends from time to time.
I've read everything by Vonnegut. His unique world view helped me get through some very hard times. I miss him every day.
Kurt may be gone but his humor and stories still entertain us. Thanks for sharing this fun lecture.
I love "off scale happiness"!!!!
In high school my friend and i both read Vonnegut books for a English class presentation. We decided that Cars Cradle and Galapagos were ant technolgoy stories.
So we collected some scrap conputer bits (this was late 80s) and other electronics. We brought them and some hammers along to class.
We did our presentation on the books and their meaning and wrapped up with several minutes of chaotic smashing of the electronics. We sent bits flying theought the class and our fellow students took cover.
We raged and screamed but the otherwise elderly teacher was tickled pink. We got great grades, even though we really only intended to make a huge mess and have some fun.
Mission accomplished.
I absolutely love this clip - I must have watched it 20 times and it still never fails to make me grin!
Great writer and humorist. You Tube - our favorite people back in the moment to revisit for eternity. Thank-you computer.
Some of his works were brilliant. Short story recommendation is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Some hard-core prophecy. And so it goes.
Vonnegut's "Oh, God damnit!" now lives rent free in my head.
Man's explaining stuff I wouldn't have understood in the most humorous way possible
He is just so incredible. Thanks for posting.
The best kind of presentation lecture I've ever seen
The "Oh God Damn It!!" @ 1:59 gets me everytime!
Can you imagine the horrible state your life must be in when you thumbs-down a 4 minute video of Kurt Vonnegut explaining fiction?
Personally, that is inconceivable.
Don't worry, that person is just the main character in that third storyline.
Way way wayyyyyyyyy down on the G/I axis!!! So low that not even Kurt Vonnegut can offer his stairs up.
What I can't imagine is caring if or how many people choose "thumbs-down."
@@jamesmcinnis208 you'll get over it. And if you don't it's no one's problem but yours.
Love it. Have to keep coming back to it. My problem is trying to have all these plots running together - men in a mess.
I wonder if that also fits the "series", pick the critical points to cut off the story so people keep coming back for more and inevitably end up at the happiness bar!
I wonder if the series is as he has drawn ... all the patterns together as you follow different characters?
I just love Kurt Vonnegut,
He's an icon, an inspiration, a teacher of life not only to artists and writers but to everyone, not only Americans but the world.
Thankfully he was an American. *The majority of the rest of the world would have forced him to do something other than what he loved and likely killed him...* _Lovely socialism._ Most of his life's work was also here so most of his teaching was actually American only.
funny how he was a socialist and even funnier was how you missed and contorted the original post into your own propaganda
...is that racist? Wow
Deadstraight crazy... are you suggesting that his line of work was for socialism? Maybe you don't realize that what you're saying is that this lecture is a direct result of his wo4k for socialist propaganda then; which makes my comment all the more poignant, and you have justified my words despite your laughter.
Problem is, the tools of propaganda have another, more well-known description with which you may be familiar, and I challenge you to show that I have used any of them; they are afterall more commonly known as *Logical fallacies.*
And an astoundingly poignant comment it undoubtedly was.
The same man who wrote the short story called "The Big Space Fuck."
I listened to this for a voice sample, trying to figure out his parts in Ken Burns' The Civil War. I was surprised - I didn't realize he was a Hoosier, and it answered my question. I stayed for the essay, and I'm glad I did.
This is a fantastic clip. It gives me some new ideas for my subreddit post, and for some new dank may mays. (tips hat in appreciation).
***** such prejudice, much meanness
I, too, am above average intelligence.
I saw this lecture at the University of Kansas in the late 80's.
And I saw it at Rutgers University, Camden NJ around then, too. It was brilliant and hilarious.
this is one of my favorite videos
What a genius lecturer.
what a truly remarkable man
With new data mining techniques years later he was absolutely right we can now see the shapes of stories. :)
"...Oh God dammit."
He literally has better comedic timing than a lot of comedians!
I LOVE this man. This was fun and brilliant.... Awesome.
The way he described the story of Cinderella made me smile!!
great visualization - I love it!
A humorous but effective (and useful) illustration and analysis of narrative structure.
Soon as he said, "we're gonna start way down here", I knew what story it was.
My favorite author ❤❤❤
I loved Kurt Vonnegut!
What a genius he was! Brilliant!
What a guy. So funny and so clever.
We call it "person in hole" these days for our course, but it's still such a useful way of giving a visual to something abstract.
Brilliant decomposition.
I could't stop laughing after a really long time. So wonderful!
Thank you for posting this - he is rad.
my god. the very fundamental structure of narrative is a trope in itself.
Excellent! Hilarious and highly insightful. Genius!
Great Scott! This is heavy.
"Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut attended Cornell University, but dropped out in January 1943 and enlisted in the United States Army. He was deployed to Europe to fight in World War II, and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was interned in Dresden and survived the Allied bombing of the city by taking refuge in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned."
Learned recently he was in the same POW camp as my grandfather... his book Slaughterhouse Five was inspired by that time.
Excellent. Perfect for a first year course on the short story. You know, the unit in which you explain how artificial the traditional Western story structure is.
an absolute genius. His stories make me laugh, cringe, and more importantly, think.
Thanks for uploading it.
I think it is the reputation of the brilliant man that is driving the thunderous applause for what was otherwise a funny take on story arcs. Any takers for that appraisal?
The one Vonnegut book I've read is Cat's Cradle, which I can't stand. I think this is hilarious.
1:43 onwards. THE BEST REPRESENTATION EVAR.
OH, HE WAS SAYING "BOING BOING" NOT BORING!!
you have achieved off scale awareness
yo man them subtitles say he sayin boring, not boring. just saying my guy.
Love the Bach at the end too.
Does anybody have more of this lecture, where he goes on to discuss the story curves of Kafka stories, aboriginal legends, and Hamlet? I've read about it, but I'd like to see him giving it, if I could find it.
If anyone is still looking, a longer version has been uploaded here: ruclips.net/video/GOGru_4z1Vc/видео.html
Jordan Ferguson gracias !!
de nada!
This entire lecture is in his book a man without a country
slaughter house 5 is one of his best works in my opinion.
+Hunter Brass literally everyone agrees slaughter house 5 is 'one of his best works.'
+Alan Herrera Mother Night is amazing too! :)
Cat's Cradle, Bluebeard, & God Bless You Mr.Rosewater are excellent reads too!
He is at the tope of my favorite authors
This guy is a boss. Nothing more can be said.
Wow, this video has been wondering what the shape of the story of my life is
That's a good thing to wonder, and decide 🙂
I see the first line he had drawn, is kinda like a cosine, and the 2rd is a sin, and the third are the combination of step function and exponential “e” crazy happiness for the princess I see 😊
Shows how AI will never be a total curve. This man is ahead of his time. Always uplifting to watch this.
I agree. "The Road" had some curve to it. Including several shocking spikes downward. Now "Lost in Translation" was an absolute flatliner.
Can we get the whole lecture? That would be fantastic
I always loved Kurt's Stories, He was the Best.
The piece that plays at the end is Variation 1 from Goldberg Variations by Bach.
1:58 gets me every time.
+meadslosh me too!
I think he's ironicly referring to his rule 6. "Be a sadist." :D
+meadslosh Me too. I just saw this in my writing class, laughing in the middle of class, and laughed even louder just now.
"Oh, god dammit"
Tears every time
Should we take him literally? I know we don't have to but...
So. Most stories can be described by trigonometry. Fascinating.
My mom’s weird friend introduced me to his books and they’re really good
this is absolutely fantastic!
This man can draw straight lines
He would have slayed at a TED Talk
Agree, The Hamlet bit is the best part of skit.
FullSail brought me here. thumbs up for FulSail
@GiantPetRat
yes one of the better writters out there
Interesting illustration.
Were the people in the audience on laughing gas? Mr. Vonnegut was making a serious and legitimage point in his lecture. Anyone taking the time to digest this information and has the ability to express themselves with written words, could indeed earn a million dollars from the basic idea.
+pagamenews
It is perfectly possible to make legitimate points and do so in a humorous manner, as Mr. Vonnegut does in this video. If you didn't laugh, you're probably the one in your social circles everyone says has no sense of humor.
@JJEMTT thats got to be graphed on the complex axis and is best described by a differential equation because no one line can describe that movie
Brilliant!
Fabulous...
My personal hero
i've read cats cradle and slaughterhouse 5. i absolutely loved everything about them both.
what vonnegut should i read next?
I love Kurt
@soupazninvasion you can project anything to something simpler, there is just the loss of information, until it is so simple that you can't differentiate between a graph for Cinderella and one for Inception. It also depends to what relation you graph it like the case with fortune for Cinderella. You could go ahead and graph Cinderellas change in Family structure.
Funny thing is, movies became more intricate and complex BY applying statistics and formulas.
@qwertzu3 Just the shape of a waveform. At the most basic level sound, electrical current, light, anything that travels as a wave is comprised of tens to thousands of different waveforms that follow the standard undulating curve we're used to seeing. When you combine that many different frequencies and amplitudes, you get the more jagged, random wave patterns you'd actually record with an instrument.
Thank you.
Love this!
i read your comment, chuckled expecting to chuckle when i heard that part; took a sip of coffee - bad fuckin idea. i hear the line and VERY NEARLY spit out the whole fucking gulp!
@soupazninvasion It's not really meant to be taken seriously or analyzed, he meant it as satire.
I miss him