Love, Kurt: The Vonnegut Love Letters, 1941-1945
by Kurt Vonnegut
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""If ever I do write anything of length--good or bad--it will be written with you in mind." Kurt Vonnegut's oldest daughter, Edith, was cleaning out her mother's attic when she stumbled upon a dusty box. Inside were more than two-hundred love letters written by Kurt to Jane, spanning the early years of their relationship: from 1941, when nineteen-year-old Kurt heads off to college, to his deployment to Europe in 1944 and the couple's marriage in 1945. The letters are full of the humor and show more wit that we have come to associate with Kurt Vonnegut. But they also show more private corners of his mind: Passionate and tender, the letters form an illuminating portrait of a young soldier's life in World War II as he attempts to come to grips with love and mortality. And they expose the origins of Vonnegut the writer, when Jane was the only person who believed in him, and they had no idea how celebrated he would become. A beautiful full-color collection of handwritten letters, notes, sketches, and comics, interspersed with Edith's insights and family memories, Love, Kurt is an intimate record of a young man growing into himself, a fascinating account of a writer finding his voice, and a moving testament to the life-altering experience of falling in love"-- show lessTags
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Witty and fun to see how Vonnegut's writing style has progressed but..... he was kinda stalk-ery. He gives poor Jane no room to breathe. They were in colleges states apart and not in a committed relationship but he still proposes to her and talks about their future together in nearly every letter. I would have enjoyed this collection much more if we would have had more of Jane's letters in response to Kurts. As it is their is only one surviving letter from Jane and she is just as witty and well written as him. It is also sad that Kurt possessed this much love for Jane at the beginning but still ended up leaving her. The letters are broken into years and their daughter Edith, provides a brief snapshot of what is happening in their lives show more as well as some photos. Personally, the best letters are the ones he writes while he is overseas fighting in WWII. Interesting read - but probably only of interest for Vonnegut diehards. show less
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The appeal of Kurt Vonnegut, especially to bright younger readers of the past few decades, may be attributed partly to the fact that he is one of the few writers who have successfully straddled the imaginary line between science-fiction/fantasy and "real literature." He was born in Indianapolis and attended Cornell University, but his college show more education was interrupted by World War II. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge and imprisoned in Dresden, he received a Purple Heart for what he calls a "ludicrously negligible wound." After the war he returned to Cornell and then earned his M.A. at the University of Chicago.He worked as a police reporter and in public relations before placing several short stories in the popular magazines and beginning his career as a novelist. His first novel, Player Piano (1952), is a highly credible account of a future mechanistic society in which people count for little and machines for much. The Sirens of Titan (1959), is the story of a playboy whisked off to Mars and outer space in order to learn some humbling lessons about Earth's modest function in the total scheme of things. Mother Night (1962) satirizes the Nazi mentality in its narrative about an American writer who broadcasts propaganda in Germany during the war as an Allied agent. Cat's Cradle (1963) makes use of some of Vonnegut's experiences in General Electric laboratories in its story about the discovery of a special kind of ice that destroys the world. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965) satirizes a benevolent foundation set up to foster the salvation of the world through love, an endeavor with, of course, disastrous results. Slaughterhouse-Five; or The Children's Crusade (1969) is the book that marked a turning point in Vonnegut's career. Based on his experiences in Dresden, it is the story of another Vonnegut surrogate named Billy Pilgrim who travels back and forth in time and becomes a kind of modern-day Everyman. The novel was something of a cult book during the Vietnam era for its antiwar sentiments. Breakfast of Champions (1973), the story of a Pontiac dealer who goes crazy after reading a science fiction novel by "Kilgore Trout," received generally unfavorable reviews but was a commercial success. Slapstick (1976), dedicated to the memory of Laurel and Hardy, is the somewhat wacky memoir of a 100-year-old ex-president who thinks he can solve society's problems by giving everyone a new middle name. In addition to his fiction, Vonnegut has published nonfiction on social problems and other topics, some of which is collected in Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974). He died from head injuries sustained in a fall on April 11, 2007. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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