
Kurt Vonnegut Museum Opens in Indianapolis - pseudolus
https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/11/14/a-kurt-vonnegut-museum-opens-in-indianapolis
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hirundo
Meanwhile, the world outside of the Vonnegut Museum is performing an homage to
him by attempting to recreate Harrison Bergeron.

I became a Vonnegut fan at age 12 when I tried to check out Breakfast of
Champions from the local library, and they sent me home with a permission slip
for my mom to sign instead. So of course I had to read all of his books. Then
had to reread them a few years later to understand them.

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever
is around to be loved." \-- Vonnegut

~~~
thundergolfer
> Meanwhile, the world outside of the Vonnegut Museum is performing an homage
> to him by attempting to recreate Harrison Bergeron.

Can you expand on this? Isn't a central part of that book radical
equalisation, where today's world is full of people and institutions driving
inequality to greater heights.

In the story talented people are forced to handicap themselves. What is the
parallel of that to the real world?

~~~
0xcde4c3db
Beyond that: to me, the thing that distinguishes _Harrison Bergeron_ in the
field of dystopian literature is how relentlessly farcical it is. The
"handicaps" are self-defeating because they blatantly advertise the advantages
that they're meant to neutralize. The allegedly super-intelligent rebel
protagonist acts like an impulsive idiot. His ultimate showdown isn't against
a legion of high-tech enforcers, but against a shotgun-wielding bureaucrat.

In short, it goes beyond merely being unbelievable; it gleefully throws the
whole notion of believability into a dumpster and sets it on fire because the
fire is pretty.

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okareaman
I read his books as a youth and enjoyed the stories. I re-read his books as a
60 yr old because they were very popular in the book bins scattered around the
VA hospital I was at. This time I enjoyed the man and author. Some trivia: I
always thought Tom Waits was clever to come up with the line "In the land of
the blind, the one eyed man is King" but that came from Vonnegut in "Player
"Piano. I especially appreciated "Breakfast of Champions" because he inserted
himself into the book as a character and stated that writing the book
prevented him from killing himself like his mother. It helped me not kill
myself as well.

~~~
yazboo
> I always thought Tom Waits was clever to come up with the line "In the land
> of the blind, the one eyed man is King" but that came from Vonnegut in
> "Player "Piano.

This is a Gaelic proverb at least a couple hundred years older than either of
these people.

~~~
Scarblac
Apparently Erasmus coined it, around 1500. But there's earlier inspiration.
But it's not from the Bible, as I initially thought it would be.

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bart_spoon
This technically isn't a new museum. Its been around since 2011. It's just
been closed for most of the year as they have been moving to a new location.

~~~
metamet
It was the place that had some of his paintings on the wall, yeah?

Small, quaint place. Definitely worth stopping by.

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JoeDaDude
Fun fact: Kurt Vonnegut once invented a board game [1]. Called General
Headquarters, it was apparently aimed at children. The game was never
published and, to my knowledge, the rules of the game have never been made
public.

[1] [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kurt-vonnegut-board-
game_n_21...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kurt-vonnegut-board-
game_n_2103785)

~~~
Nition
The article you linked mentions that the rules can be found at the library
here, box 21 folder 9:
[http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/index.php?p=vonne...](http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/index.php?p=vonnegutinv&i=4)

And someone on BoardGameGeek[1] says:

> A few years ago, after hearing about Mr. Vonnegut's GHQ game, I attempted to
> get access to the appropriate boxes at the Indiana Library. Failing that, I
> tried to persuade a fellow wargamer who lived closer to Bloomington than I
> did to go and have a peek for me. And failing that, I applied to the library
> for photocopies of the essential documents.

> This was all in aid of an article for Simulacrum.

> The library advised me that they could not photocopy any information from
> Mr. Vonnegut's files without the approval of his lawyer-cum-copyright
> holder/protector. So I contacted the lawyer, who wasn't aware that the files
> contained a game designed by Mr. Vonnegut. Then I never heard from him
> again.

> So I abandoned the effort to get, if nothing else, a copy of the rules.
> Perhaps someone here who is near the library could stop by and check it out.

> John Kula

And later:

> John Kula's enquiry got as far as the librarian at the Lilly Library at IU.
> She pulled the folder and said that it contained about "100 pages of
> different documents about the game, including multiple drafts of the game
> instructions, letters and notes about the game, etc.". So it appears that
> Vonnegut did do a bit of thinking and testing of the game, for sure.

Someone also mentions that an "interpretation" of the rules is available at
generalheadquartersgame.com, but that URL is gone and even archive.org doesn't
seem to have a single copy of it. It's also unclear what exactly that
"interpretation" was based off anyway.

[1] [https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/883385/kurt-vonneguts-
board...](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/883385/kurt-vonneguts-board-game-
general-headquarters)

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jihadjihad
Cat's Cradle is tied for the funniest book I've ever read--it's absolutely
hilarious from start to finish, while also remaining poignant to this day. The
other book is A Confederacy of Dunces, which, like Cat's Cradle, causes me to
smile fondly when I remember scenes and quotes from it.

~~~
abruzzi
I reread Cat's Cradle every couple of years. You can read the entire book in a
3-4 hour sitting. It is funny and sad, it loves humans and hates them. It is
one of my favorite books of all time.

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JacobDotVI
Player Piano is a fantastic book and very topical in today's world awash in
UBI, fears of automation, etc. Player piano is the GE's factory will take all
jobs version of today's AI FUD.

~~~
pstuart
AI has the potential for significant impact on civilization, but to embrace it
as being only positive is naive at best.

------
zabzonk
I saw him when he came to give a talk at Edinburgh University in the early
1970s - very witty. And I've loved all of his books, particularly Mother Night
and Cats Cradle.

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balls187
I fell in love with Vonnegut when I was in college.

A friend recommended Catcher in the Rye, but it didn't appeal to me, so he
suggested Cat's Cradle.

After that I went on a binge.

I know Slaughterhouse-5 gets all the accolades, but for me Breakfast of
Champions is my all time favorite novel.

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neonate
[https://outline.com/ps2vTZ](https://outline.com/ps2vTZ)

[https://web.archive.org/web/20191121134126/https://www.econo...](https://web.archive.org/web/20191121134126/https://www.economist.com/books-
and-arts/2019/11/14/a-kurt-vonnegut-museum-opens-in-indianapolis)

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apotatopot
Fantastic! Bluebeard is the book that inspired me to make the switch from
poetry to novels. Vonnegut holds a special place in my heart.

~~~
shantly
Blue Beard fans, unite! Of his less-famous ones Deadeye Dick also stands out
for me.

~~~
mtberatwork
On the flip side, I just couldn't get through Hocus Pocus. Bluebeard and
Sirens of Titan are my two favorites though.

~~~
shantly
I've read all of them but _Player Piano_ (started it twice, just got
distracted both times, it wasn't bad) and _God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater_. Of
the rest, _Hocus Pocus_ and _Jailbird_ are the two that stuck the least.

 _Timequake_ was OK as a for-the-fans kind of thing I guess, but not great.
_Bluebeard_ is already a kind of summing-up of Vonnegut's major themes and is
quite a bit better, so _Timequake_ 's just... fine. _Slapstick_ is more
memorable than _Jailbird_ and _Hocus Pocus_ but only for how incredibly bad it
is.

I like or love all the other ( _counts_ ) eight novels.

~~~
scrozier
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is actually my favorite. Hope you get to it! Some
of his later books, as you note, just got so preachy and overwrought, I
couldn't get through them.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Yes he became a bitter old grouch, negative about everything.

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chimichangga
Always loved his cameo in Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield, Burt Young
and a young Robert Downey jr.

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MichaelMoser123
I am glad that Vonnegut gets honoured, he changed the way of how i look at
things.

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campfireveteran
I wonder if it closes before it opens, and then the hours change at random?
Maybe you even leave before you arrive while spending 3 hours seeing the whole
thing? It should be unstuck in time, at least.

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mkandler
Please tell me there's a train you can ride around the museum with a small
keyhole to look out through to help you better understand human perspective in
relation to multiple dimensions

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newnewpdro
I especially enjoyed his book Sirens of Titan.

Rented a tent a tent a tent

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teddyc
Vonnegut is my favorite author by far

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jdkee
So it goes.

~~~
arbitrage
That reference is more applicable when someone (or something) dies.

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1996
For those who don't know, maybe add author to the title?

I thought it was about Kurt Russel, the famous Snake Plissken.

~~~
zabzonk
It explicitly says "Kurt Vonnegut"

~~~
1996
Even with that, I thought Kurt Vonnegut was the classic action movie actor.
The name looks the part.

~~~
lameiam23
it must be hard being you.

~~~
1996
Yes I don't know books.

But at least I know action movies.

~~~
zabzonk
But not surnames?

~~~
1996
I know it's Kurt something with an impressive name that sounds as badass as
the character name.

