1970: KURT VONNEGUT Interview | Review | Writers and Wordsmiths | BBC Archive

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  • čas přidán 23. 11. 2022
  • "I think we are doomed through eternity to repeat this programme." - Kurt Vonnegut
    The author Kurt Vonnegut - whose novel Slaughterhouse 5 is a bestseller in the US - chats to James Mossman in a wide ranging interview that covers; non-linear time, women, his kids, middle age, the American system, and the end of the world.
    Originally broadcast 4 April, 1970.
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Komentáře • 90

  • @ReneFabre
    @ReneFabre Před 2 měsíci +19

    All these years later, Kurt Vonnegut is still one of my favorite friends on the bookshelf!

  • @MrMann0123
    @MrMann0123 Před rokem +119

    So it goes.

  • @shakazulu5665
    @shakazulu5665 Před rokem +18

    "if this isn't nice I don't know what is"
    I love you all
    God bless you
    May we all find our own peace

  • @stewmo1
    @stewmo1 Před rokem +83

    James Mossman, the interviewer here, killed himself a year after this interview. What an excellent interviewer he was, and obviously a sensitive soul.

    • @andydixon2980
      @andydixon2980 Před rokem +13

      That's very tragic. I could never have guessed from what I've just seen.

    • @pistachiowarcrimes6885
      @pistachiowarcrimes6885 Před 4 měsíci +14

      His suicide note read "I can't bear it anymore, though I don't know what 'it' is"

    • @richardchason
      @richardchason Před 3 měsíci +1

      ​@@pistachiowarcrimes6885What a terrifying note. I don't envy his psyche.

    • @liammcooper
      @liammcooper Před 3 měsíci +1

      Jesus

    • @DemonetisedZone
      @DemonetisedZone Před 2 měsíci

      I was certain that was Alan Watts😂

  • @cshelley5658
    @cshelley5658 Před rokem +24

    Watching these 2 'preserved ghosts' talk about "time"; to help revive the value of living. 🤔
    Thanks for this.

  • @owengrubbs4050
    @owengrubbs4050 Před rokem +18

    This was absolutely wonderful.

  • @RoseaNebulaLaeta
    @RoseaNebulaLaeta Před 10 měsíci +10

    8:40 this is so brilliant - these are the ideas explored in Fight Club and Mr. Robot - that computers and machines would have to be factored in when overthrowing a society. And Kurt knew back in 1970 🤯

    • @lewis5384
      @lewis5384 Před 2 měsíci +2

      I do believe it was the subject of his first book. You would be surprised how many of our problems today were predicted in the 50s and 60s.

  • @sacredguineapig9397
    @sacredguineapig9397 Před 22 dny

    The absolute man. So happy to see new footage. Love all you. Here we go again!

  • @DenkyManner
    @DenkyManner Před rokem +45

    Great writers often have these slightly crazy theories about why certain things happens in the world, their own mythos. I don't necessarily agree with him but it doesn't matter, he wasn't running for office, he can have "interesting" ideas that make us think about the world differently, if only for a minute or two.

    • @shakazulu5665
      @shakazulu5665 Před rokem

      But was he wrong? Do you not see the Orwellian world we now live it? 1984 is literally the status quo nowadays. Science is now a dogmatic cult like religion and "the science is settled" when thats not how scientific discoveries work

    • @Daniel-nh3qr
      @Daniel-nh3qr Před 8 měsíci +4

      Beautifully said.

    • @cappuccinobean2442
      @cappuccinobean2442 Před 3 dny

      Very good way of thinking :)

  • @jasonayres
    @jasonayres Před rokem +24

    My dad was a fan of his writings.
    What can I say..
    Don't worry.
    It's not the end of the world. 🙂👍

    • @Apedotexe
      @Apedotexe Před rokem +7

      So it goes…

    • @bluepvp900
      @bluepvp900 Před 10 měsíci +1

      That made me laugh like hell.

    • @A-432-Zone
      @A-432-Zone Před 5 měsíci

      And yet, ironically, this IS the end of the world. And Vonnegut foresaw the whole thing in every word he spoke here. And still, people in the very comments here are lightly passing him off as gifted but a little "crazy." They cannot she through the poetry when the truth becomes so nullified. This truly is the curse of the great artists.

    • @proto-geek248
      @proto-geek248 Před měsícem

      It's not the end of the world. Mankind's belief that he can harm the Earth is the most pompous of notions.
      "The world isn't going anywhere.
      WE ARE!"
      George Carlin

  • @cynthiafernandez6187
    @cynthiafernandez6187 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Oh my. I love Kurt Vonnegut- my absolute favorite writer. @1:27 his response to why he writes briefly about women, is just perfect in every sense. Thank you, Kurt!

    • @cappuccinobean2442
      @cappuccinobean2442 Před 3 dny

      I found it a bit disappointing...Why does it have to be a love story if a woman is involved? Kind of makes it seem like women only exist as objects of desire and can't drive a deeper plot.

  • @poop-le8fi
    @poop-le8fi Před rokem +13

    "There's something about my teachings, or about my writings, I think that discourages everybody from reproducing."

  • @MrMann0123
    @MrMann0123 Před rokem +9

    My favourite book of all time.

  • @dannywhite9975
    @dannywhite9975 Před rokem +1

    D quality of d audio is top notch. Thanx.

  • @valuetraveler2026
    @valuetraveler2026 Před rokem +4

    Great mind great interview

  • @melissavidic2895
    @melissavidic2895 Před měsícem

    Good interview, I can’t believe I haven’t read Slaughterhouse Five. It’s on my list!

  • @hilaryepstein6013
    @hilaryepstein6013 Před rokem +29

    Whether you agree with his ideas or not, one of the 20th Century's great thinkers. Full of wisdom amd humour.

    • @sexobscura
      @sexobscura Před 7 měsíci

      Humour is the wisdom that is like a warm breeze in winter

    • @A-432-Zone
      @A-432-Zone Před 5 měsíci +2

      Yes. In a way he was THE modern-day Mark Twain.

  • @user-rp6iu6gp1s
    @user-rp6iu6gp1s Před 7 měsíci +5

    An impressive deep thinking man. The story of his survival in Dresden is pretty mind blowing and deeply ironical and I think it must have jolted him awake.

  • @davedogge2280
    @davedogge2280 Před rokem +14

    This is a reminder for me to either watch the Slaughterhouse-Five movie / read the book or both.

  • @matt.willoughby
    @matt.willoughby Před rokem +4

    I feel the same about an infinite regress, we are doomed to repeat this for eternity

    • @Kyoto_Ed
      @Kyoto_Ed Před 6 měsíci

      I think we all experience every living things life for infinity

    • @proto-geek248
      @proto-geek248 Před měsícem

      Now is forever.

  • @Sporky.Productions
    @Sporky.Productions Před 7 měsíci +2

    If this isn't nice, I don't know what is!

  • @kdavisinca
    @kdavisinca Před 22 dny

    Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt

  • @chrisneyman
    @chrisneyman Před 3 měsíci

    "To win or to quit"
    Wow.

  • @tunkamoose1981
    @tunkamoose1981 Před 11 dny

    6:36 in…
    “ They ( his children) don’t see life as an amusing opportunity, and I’d hoped they would.”

  • @moonstad6750
    @moonstad6750 Před 11 měsíci +2

    he will be in the canon. mark my words. if i had heros, joe, fred, robin... those, and this guy.

  • @Jamersonjamersonjamerson-or4tz

    Good vibrations

  • @studioyosemite671
    @studioyosemite671 Před měsícem

    really and truly on a higher plane

  • @HenryCasillas
    @HenryCasillas Před měsícem

    🌻

  • @aboveman5321
    @aboveman5321 Před 2 měsíci +1

    "Spinoza had already said all of this" ...

  • @stephenburke7108
    @stephenburke7108 Před rokem +4

    so it goes

  • @qevian
    @qevian Před 8 měsíci +5

    As much as I love Kurt Vonnegut, it is perfectly possible to write about women as people and not simply introduce them as a love story 😳

    • @alexanderacostaosorio
      @alexanderacostaosorio Před 7 měsíci +1

      Women represent something that's not present in Vonnegut's work, hence, the limited and almost non-existent reference.

    • @dylanhatesyou
      @dylanhatesyou Před 6 měsíci

      @@alexanderacostaosorio maybe not in Slaughterhouse 5 but there are female characters in other novels

    • @A-432-Zone
      @A-432-Zone Před 5 měsíci +1

      Oh, I don't think that's what he was saying all. He almost always "speaks" between the lines. Same thing for his novels.

    • @SearchIndex
      @SearchIndex Před 5 měsíci +1

      That’s not what he was saying

    • @LuminousTurtle2029
      @LuminousTurtle2029 Před 3 měsíci +2

      It also is a sign of intelligence when you know yourself so well that you know you can't write female characters aside from their being in a romantic setting. I'm not saying this is how he felt. This is how I interpret what he said. I could be wrong.

  • @unfriendlyatheist616
    @unfriendlyatheist616 Před 9 měsíci +1

    We
    All
    Live
    Like that...mind in the present, past & future

  • @manicmandownup
    @manicmandownup Před 9 měsíci +1

    Peace.

  • @jdm65
    @jdm65 Před rokem +5

    Looking remarkably like Swiss Toni. Being a famous novelist...

    • @alancawfield6549
      @alancawfield6549 Před rokem +9

      Writing a novel is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman, you find a quiet place to do it, you make sure you have enough lead in your pencil and then you keep going until you've reached a satisfying climax.

    • @MartinCellarDJ
      @MartinCellarDJ Před 10 měsíci +2

      ​@@alancawfield6549 superb.

  • @JLB293
    @JLB293 Před měsícem

    We just have to learn navigating infinity a bit better

  • @jessed1709
    @jessed1709 Před rokem +3

    14:05 What is Vonnegut saying here? Where was he?

  • @turntabillist
    @turntabillist Před 7 měsíci

    THAT happiness is mine.

  • @gryffonsi
    @gryffonsi Před 4 měsíci

    I had to laugh like hell

  • @burnlastsunday
    @burnlastsunday Před 7 měsíci +1

    Just finished Hocus Pocus a few minutes ago. Cough.

  • @DemonetisedZone
    @DemonetisedZone Před 2 měsíci +1

    Kilgore Trout is not a very good writer, he's more of an ideas man🤩

  • @richardjames1946
    @richardjames1946 Před měsícem

    " ... doesn't give you the right to rule the universe "

  • @A-432-Zone
    @A-432-Zone Před 5 měsíci +1

    A true Christian AND Buddhist! We love 'ya, Kurt!

  • @alancawfield6549
    @alancawfield6549 Před rokem +2

    Alan Arkin was sick of Acting in 1970, he's still doing it now, sort of feel sorry for him now.😆

    • @proto-geek248
      @proto-geek248 Před měsícem

      Mr. Arkin passed away
      June, 29 2023
      RIP 🙏

  • @marmasettesamram2024
    @marmasettesamram2024 Před rokem +2

    Hi Ho

  • @proto-geek248
    @proto-geek248 Před měsícem +1

    Poo tee weet 🐦

  • @burnlastsunday
    @burnlastsunday Před 7 měsíci +1

    Hi ho.

  • @kyleebrock
    @kyleebrock Před rokem +1

    James was not listening... Kept asking the same questions... Glad it was Kurt that he kept talking...

  • @jediknight108
    @jediknight108 Před rokem +1

    Hare Krishna

  • @kerrieannebaker8595
    @kerrieannebaker8595 Před 2 měsíci +1

    america, the collective narcissist

  • @cartoonvandal
    @cartoonvandal Před měsícem

    I mean, clearly, he's no Ballard, but he's alright.