This was so much fun. Thanks, Scot. It's interesting how different readers perceive the Vonnegut works and their individual worth. I need to read the things he published after Jailbird. And I would love to hear your take on the Shakespeare plays, so please feel free to do a video on them!
FANTASTIC VIDEO!! Wow! You rekindled my affection for Ol' Kurt's books. I read only a few but I appreciate his style. And he seemed like a real cool guy, too. BTW, Benny Hill had told that enzyme joke on one of his television episodes. Another cool guy, IMHO Thanks for this. Great work and a fun watch as always. ☮️💟
I re-read Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed the experience. Cat's Cradle still remains my favorite. I love the way Vonnegut's ficitional religion highlights the idiocies of real religions.
Progressive music has its roots in syncretic thinking so of course Vonnegut has influenced progressive music... this is a great way to go with the channel. Just because its the Prog corner doesnt mean you are painted into a corner. My GF an artist showing in museums loves Vonnegut. It's just a sign of good taste in an often rather tasteless age. Great Job. btw love Bradbury too.
I read about half of the Vonnegut novels over the years. Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, Rosewater, Sirens, Galapagos and Jailbird. I can't remember if I read Cats Cradle or not. Timequake sounds like an interesting read. I was reading a lot of John Updike, Stephen King, Dickens and Joyce during these periods. There is so much literature out there. People were always saying to me, "you gotta read this", quite frequently. My memory is quite fuzzy in regards to the premise of some of books I read. I dabbled in writing short stories. I remember doing a report on Ivy Day in the Committee Room by James Joyce. It's a short story from Joyce's Dubliners. It was rich in layers of subtext. I could relate to it on three or four different levels. A good story will do that for you. I enjoyed this clip immensely. It awakened my memory quite a bit. Thanks Scott, much appreciated. PS, Vonnegut is definitely Prog!
My intro to Vonnegut was the film version of Slaughterhouse 5 which immediately sparked my interest. I soon after bought the novel and half a dozen others, all of which impressed. Worth mentioning is Harrison Bergeron, a short story in Welcome to the Monkey House, which inspires all sorts of internal debates. I love the recurring characters and ideas in his novels which establish a firm Vonnegut Universe. I'd rank them as 1. Slaughterhouse 5 2. Cat's Cradle 3. Breakfast of Champions 4. Deadeye Dick 5. Bluebeard 6. Mother Night and I'd really need to read (or reread) the others to finish the list.
I’ve only read Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut. I used to read quite a bit when I was younger. Everything from lowbrow like Piers Anthony and Terry Brooks to more cerebral stuff like Asimov and Clarke. I’ve also plowed through all the Beat writers, you know the ones. Burroughs, Bukowski, Hunke and Kerouac and a few more. These days I have a tendency to read non-fiction mostly related to music and art. I also dig classic literature like Welles, Poe, Orwell and people like that. Then of course I’m a Tolkien nut. I’ve read LotR so many times that I can recite passages. I actually prefer books over movies. I love to use my imagination as opposed to someone telling me what my imagination should be.
My opinions re: movies and experience is similar with the exception that I never got into the Beat writers. I've been too busy going through all those other science fiction authors.
@@bobsala7780 Just like music there is just so much out there in any style. And just like music my tastes are eclectic to say the least. When I was younger my preference was fantasy over sci-fi but I loved the sci-fi that I read as well. As an example I am Louis L’Amour fan and I love westerns as much as sci-fi. I love to be entertained all over the place.
Wow, you found a woman that loves Vonnegut and GBV! That episode was awesome, loved and have read Vonnegut for almost 40 years, I had no idea about all those song and publishing company connections. My top 5 would be Cat's Cradle at # 1, it has been since the first time I read it, Slaughterhouse, Galapagos, Bluebeard and Sirens. Breakfast of Champions just barely out of the top 5. I did get to see Vonnegut speak at a small college in Ohio way back in the day, as incredible as any music concert I've ever seen, a hero of mine. Way to switch it up on the channel, damn good Mr. Jam!
Way to branch out! I read those novels a long, long time ago, but some things have always stuck in my mind. And I try to live by Kurt's maxim about peculiar travel suggestions.
For me this was awesome. Books are my other love besides music and now that I don't play in a band anymore I devote more time to them than anything else -- even got my own science fiction literature podcast. Enjoyed hearing you talk about Vonnegut and rank the books. I've only read I think four of them and some of the short stories. Cat's Cradle is my favourite -- really loved that one. Definitely got some ideas from you about where I might want to go next. Cheers. Not sure if you mentioned it and I just missed it (quite possible) but there's also a newer band now from te Boston area called ice 9 Kills. Not really my thing but they're cool in some aspects, and sometimes they have cool literary and movie references like their bandname.
It's been a long time since I read Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are certainly my top two as well, but some of those I have never read. I'm inspired now to go back and fill in the gaps.
Cats Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse Five top three for me. Wrote this before listening to yours Scot. Vonnegut and Philip K Dick my two favourite American authors.
Cool Vid! Hope you were able to catch the Vonnegut documentary that came out a few years back. Robert Weide (who directed a lot of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes) struck up a friendship with him in hopes to make the documentary but it took decades. He was such an interesting man.
when you've finished with that t-shirt Scot, it's old got holes feels sorry for itself, i still want it! slaughterhouse-five is an audacious piece of literature: i've read it twice and i don't think i'm finished with it. great american writing, haunting too. and so it goes.
Well, you just made me want to revisit my Vonnegut collection! Have you read any Orson Scott Card at all? Well written sci-fi, albeit less humor than KV, but really good. Thanks for a great vid! 👍🏻
Vonnegut is one of those writers who are almost impossible to pigeonhole, science fiction? literature? I will not hazard a guess. To me, he encapsulates a sixties sensibility.
Huh. Didn't expect this. I'm not a huge Vonnegut fan (not a hater, just haven't read a lot of his work) but one of his short stories inspired a prog EP a friend and I started work on years ago, "The Great Space Fuck", which is about humanity's efforts to "seed" the stars with our genetic code, but taken quite literally. I incorporated some contemporary humour and politics into the plot (not in a RATM kind of way but in a parody/funny kind of way) and even though I've been sitting on the music for this three-song prog EP for over a decade now, I'd still like to see it to completion one day!
Love how in Back-to-School Vonnegut actually writes the essay for the Rodney Dangerfield character and is told he does not know anything about Vonnegut .
Vonnegut has some amazing stuff. My favorite was Sirens of Titan, but Breakfast Of Champions and Cat's Cradle were fun too. On a slightly different note, ever read any Charles Bukowski?
Too bad here in France some are very rare and expensive... I mean the ones in french....got two... breakfast and abatoir 5...gonna see one ol' bookseller I know downtown with your list Scot! sure he can do somethin' for me ... he's amazing
@@TheProgCorner “So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, 'If this isn’t nice, what is?'” - Kurt Vonnegut Thanks for the wide ranging & always interesting and educational content. Rock on!
@@TheProgCorner according to Wikipedia Vonnegut wrote a short piece in a collections book then Farmer wanted to expand the idea and there was a misunderstanding about the agreement. Apparently Farmer used Vonnegut's original text unedited. It's a book people think Vonnegut wrote but didn't. Being a Farmer freak it's one of the few books I've never got around to reading for some strange reason so cannot comment how Vonnegut-ian it is
Makes sense: Vonnegut IS prog - at least, the seriously fun side. Scott, try Douglas Adams (directly inspired from The Sirens of Titan but, then again, different), Terry Pratchett (he inspired latter-day Steelye Span), and for really, really Vonnegut-crazy and out there, try Robert Rankin. You won't regret it. All are very, very funny.
“Galapagos” isn’t necessarily a Vonnegut reference. It’s a real place on Earth where Charles Darwin did his research that resulted in writing On the Origin of Species.
You can't talk counter-culture without talking about KVJr. Personal faves are Mother Night (breaks my heart every time), Cat's Cradle, and Bluebeard, the best book about art I've ever read. I enjoyed Hocus Pocus more than you. KV in any order is GREAT! Another killer video from The Prog Corner. Nice, nice, very nice!
This was so much fun. Thanks, Scot. It's interesting how different readers perceive the Vonnegut works and their individual worth. I need to read the things he published after Jailbird.
And I would love to hear your take on the Shakespeare plays, so please feel free to do a video on them!
I might do it. I’ve read them all and loved most of them so….
I’ve only read Welcome To The Monkeyhouse and I enjoyed it. I’ve always been a big Tolkien guy, and I’ve recently been into Dostoevsky and Kafka.
I am so tired of music channels posting videos where they rank great works of literature. Just kidding. Great video.
You had me there for a minute…
Thanks for allowing me to indulge.
Everything I know about Vonnegut I learned from Back To School.
Rodney!!!!
I got no class!😀
Whenever i think of Kurt Vonnegut im reminded of high school.
FANTASTIC VIDEO!! Wow! You rekindled my affection for Ol' Kurt's books. I read only a few but I appreciate his style. And he seemed like a real cool guy, too.
BTW, Benny Hill had told that enzyme joke on one of his television episodes. Another cool guy, IMHO
Thanks for this. Great work and a fun watch as always. ☮️💟
I re-read Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed the experience. Cat's Cradle still remains my favorite. I love the way Vonnegut's ficitional religion highlights the idiocies of real religions.
❤️❤️❤️
Progressive music has its roots in syncretic thinking so of course Vonnegut has influenced progressive music... this is a great way to go with the channel. Just because its the Prog corner doesnt mean you are painted into a corner. My GF an artist showing in museums loves Vonnegut. It's just a sign of good taste in an often rather tasteless age. Great Job. btw love Bradbury too.
Oh yeah!!!!!
I read about half of the Vonnegut novels over the years. Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, Rosewater, Sirens, Galapagos and Jailbird.
I can't remember if I read Cats Cradle or not. Timequake sounds like an interesting read.
I was reading a lot of John Updike, Stephen King, Dickens and Joyce during these periods. There is so much literature out there. People were always saying to me, "you gotta read this", quite frequently. My memory is quite fuzzy in regards to the premise of some of books I read. I dabbled in writing short stories. I remember doing a report on Ivy Day in the Committee Room by James Joyce. It's a short story from Joyce's Dubliners. It was rich in layers of subtext. I could relate to it on three or four different levels. A good story will do that for you.
I enjoyed this clip immensely. It awakened my memory quite a bit. Thanks Scott, much appreciated.
PS, Vonnegut is definitely Prog!
Yes!!! Thank you!!!!
Super video. My 11 year old grandson loves to read so, I might dig out my old Kurt V. books. And your rankings are A+
Thanks!!!! I’m glad people were cool with this episode!!!!!
Valerie Perrine in the movie adaptation of Slaughterhouse Five left quite an impression on my young mind.
Next, Douglas Adams?
Oh yeah!
she looked good naked
The Sirens of Titan is my favorite. I also love his friend that he jokingly named Kilgore trout after, Theodore Sturgeon.
My intro to Vonnegut was the film version of Slaughterhouse 5 which immediately sparked my interest. I soon after bought the novel and half a dozen others, all of which impressed. Worth mentioning is Harrison Bergeron, a short story in Welcome to the Monkey House, which inspires all sorts of internal debates. I love the recurring characters and ideas in his novels which establish a firm Vonnegut Universe. I'd rank them as 1. Slaughterhouse 5 2. Cat's Cradle 3. Breakfast of Champions 4. Deadeye Dick 5. Bluebeard 6. Mother Night and I'd really need to read (or reread) the others to finish the list.
I’ve only read Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut. I used to read quite a bit when I was younger. Everything from lowbrow like Piers Anthony and Terry Brooks to more cerebral stuff like Asimov and Clarke.
I’ve also plowed through all the Beat writers, you know the ones. Burroughs, Bukowski, Hunke and Kerouac and a few more. These days I have a tendency to read non-fiction mostly related to music and art.
I also dig classic literature like Welles, Poe, Orwell and people like that. Then of course I’m a Tolkien nut. I’ve read LotR so many times that I can recite passages. I actually prefer books over movies. I love to use my imagination as opposed to someone telling me what my imagination should be.
My opinions re: movies and experience is similar with the exception that I never got into the Beat writers. I've been too busy going through all those other science fiction authors.
@@bobsala7780
Just like music there is just so much out there in any style. And just like music my tastes are eclectic to say the least. When I was younger my preference was fantasy over sci-fi but I loved the sci-fi that I read as well. As an example I am Louis L’Amour fan and I love westerns as much as sci-fi. I love to be entertained all over the place.
I've read everything Kurt Vonnegut has written during my teens and listening to Prog.
They go hand in hand!!!!🖐️
Wow, you found a woman that loves Vonnegut and GBV! That episode was awesome, loved and have read Vonnegut for almost 40 years, I had no idea about all those song and publishing company connections. My top 5 would be Cat's Cradle at # 1, it has been since the first time I read it, Slaughterhouse, Galapagos, Bluebeard and Sirens. Breakfast of Champions just barely out of the top 5. I did get to see Vonnegut speak at a small college in Ohio way back in the day, as incredible as any music concert I've ever seen, a hero of mine. Way to switch it up on the channel, damn good Mr. Jam!
Cat’s Cradle changed the way I look at the world!!!!
Provably my favourite writer of the modern era!! Can’t wait to dig into this!
Definitely my favorite!!!
For me it's :
1. Galapagos
2. Sirens of Titan
3. Deadeye Dick
4. Slaughterhouse 5
5. Cats Cradle
Fabulous!!!!
Yeah Scot great list. Sirens. Slaughterhouse. Breakfast etc.
Way to branch out! I read those novels a long, long time ago, but some things have always stuck in my mind. And I try to live by Kurt's maxim about peculiar travel suggestions.
👍👍👍
For me this was awesome. Books are my other love besides music and now that I don't play in a band anymore I devote more time to them than anything else -- even got my own science fiction literature podcast. Enjoyed hearing you talk about Vonnegut and rank the books. I've only read I think four of them and some of the short stories. Cat's Cradle is my favourite -- really loved that one. Definitely got some ideas from you about where I might want to go next. Cheers.
Not sure if you mentioned it and I just missed it (quite possible) but there's also a newer band now from te Boston area called ice 9 Kills. Not really my thing but they're cool in some aspects, and sometimes they have cool literary and movie references like their bandname.
And I think there’s a couple bands called Kilgore Trout!!!
Yay, books!!! Good to hear you're a fan of Chuck Palahniuk, too; he's a big fave of mine....
Vonnegut, Shakespeare and Palahniuk: my HOLY TRINITY!!!!!
It's been a long time since I read Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are certainly my top two as well, but some of those I have never read. I'm inspired now to go back and fill in the gaps.
Cats Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse Five top three for me. Wrote this before listening to yours Scot. Vonnegut and Philip K Dick my two favourite American authors.
The Top Three are immovable!!!!!
This was great! I love Vonnegut!
Thank you!!!
1. Cat's Cradle
2. Slaughterhouse-Five
3. The Sirens of Titan
Cool Vid! Hope you were able to catch the Vonnegut documentary that came out a few years back. Robert Weide (who directed a lot of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes) struck up a friendship with him in hopes to make the documentary but it took decades. He was such an interesting man.
I definitely need to watch that.
Hey Scot! Busy day.👍☮️👑🐍😎
when you've finished with that t-shirt Scot, it's old got holes feels sorry for itself, i still want it! slaughterhouse-five is an audacious piece of literature: i've read it twice and i don't think i'm finished with it. great american writing, haunting too. and so it goes.
Yes!!!
@@TheProgCornerUrsula Le Guin? Philip K Dick?
PKD for sure.
Well, you just made me want to revisit my Vonnegut collection! Have you read any Orson Scott Card at all? Well written sci-fi, albeit less humor than KV, but really good. Thanks for a great vid! 👍🏻
I have not read anything by OSC yet.
Vonnegut is one of those writers who are almost impossible to pigeonhole, science fiction? literature? I will not hazard a guess. To me, he encapsulates a sixties sensibility.
That feels about right.
Would love to see the Shakespeare and Chuck P. rankings!
Definitely gonna happen!!!!
Huh. Didn't expect this. I'm not a huge Vonnegut fan (not a hater, just haven't read a lot of his work) but one of his short stories inspired a prog EP a friend and I started work on years ago, "The Great Space Fuck", which is about humanity's efforts to "seed" the stars with our genetic code, but taken quite literally. I incorporated some contemporary humour and politics into the plot (not in a RATM kind of way but in a parody/funny kind of way) and even though I've been sitting on the music for this three-song prog EP for over a decade now, I'd still like to see it to completion one day!
And Cat's Cradle is a sci-fi classic!
Sounds awesome!!!
Love 'Cat's Cradle'. Read this in high school years.
That’s the one that got me hooked!!!
Love how in Back-to-School Vonnegut actually writes the essay for the Rodney Dangerfield character and is told he does not know anything about Vonnegut .
Such a great movie!!!!
Vonnegut has some amazing stuff. My favorite was Sirens of Titan, but Breakfast Of Champions and Cat's Cradle were fun too.
On a slightly different note, ever read any Charles Bukowski?
I have!!!! Fantastic!!!!
Read the cat,the breakfest & the slauhter in the past (translated).great writer indeed
Amazing!!!!!!
I couldn't stop laughing when you said "Blackbeard" 😂😂😂
What an idiot I am!!!!! WTF is wrong with me!!!!???
@@TheProgCorner It's all good. We're human. Great job as always! I am a Hoosier, so this video really hit home for me. 😀
Too bad here in France some are very rare and expensive... I mean the ones in french....got two... breakfast and abatoir 5...gonna see one ol' bookseller I know downtown with your list Scot! sure he can do somethin' for me ... he's amazing
Hopefully he can hook you up with Cat’s Cradle!!!!
I have Slaughterhouse - five but haven't read it yet. I'm guessing this is a good one to start with.
The best!!!!
Mother Night is my number one, with Slaughterhouse and Cradle a close 2 and 3
Nice, Nice, Very Nice! 😎
That’s right!!!!!
@@TheProgCorner “So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, 'If this isn’t nice, what is?'” - Kurt Vonnegut
Thanks for the wide ranging & always interesting and educational content. Rock on!
Have you read Venus On The Half Shell by Philip José Farmer writing as Kilgore Trout one of Vonnegut's characters?
I have not!!!!
@@TheProgCorner according to Wikipedia Vonnegut wrote a short piece in a collections book then Farmer wanted to expand the idea and there was a misunderstanding about the agreement. Apparently Farmer used Vonnegut's original text unedited. It's a book people think Vonnegut wrote but didn't. Being a Farmer freak it's one of the few books I've never got around to reading for some strange reason so cannot comment how Vonnegut-ian it is
Makes sense: Vonnegut IS prog - at least, the seriously fun side. Scott, try Douglas Adams (directly inspired from The Sirens of Titan but, then again, different), Terry Pratchett (he inspired latter-day Steelye Span), and for really, really Vonnegut-crazy and out there, try Robert Rankin. You won't regret it. All are very, very funny.
I’ve read Douglas Adams!!!
🤩
👍😎
“Galapagos” isn’t necessarily a Vonnegut reference. It’s a real place on Earth where Charles Darwin did his research that resulted in writing On the Origin of Species.
Have you seen the documentary "Unstuck In Time"?
I have NOT!!!
So it goes x
***
I named my dog Kazak. So it goes.
You get it.
Bit of a spoiler there on Cat's Cradle.
Yeah. I’m not good at hiding my cards.🃏
You can't talk counter-culture without talking about KVJr. Personal faves are Mother Night (breaks my heart every time), Cat's Cradle, and Bluebeard, the best book about art I've ever read. I enjoyed Hocus Pocus more than you. KV in any order is GREAT! Another killer video from The Prog Corner. Nice, nice, very nice!
Thank you!!! I’m glad you were cool with me veering off course.
@@TheProgCorner Talking about KV Jr is right on, as far as I'm concerned.
Ever read any Richard Brautigan?
No, I haven’t!!!
💪
***
Funny that you have a caption correcting blackbeard to bluebeard... .and then you have #5 Bluebird as the caption
I think I said Blackbeard. Because I’m an idiot!!!!! (And i didn’t want to reshoot it…)
slaughterhouse five is wigging.... saw the movie first.... dug it...then read it...dug it more....
Oh yeah!!!!
What's education? What's educated? x
Nick Lowe had a minor hit with his great tune So it Goes. Surely u know it…?
Yikes!
Nick Lowe had a minor hit with his great tune So it Goes. Surely u know it…?
👍👍👍