University of Virginia Library

Very Verbose

In a seminar setting, he is relaxed and
extremely verbose, the Indianapolis
chemist becomes the New York artist.
Topics touched upon during the lecture,
such as the function of art in society and
the cause of America's social ills, were
discussed in greater detail.

Mr. Vonnegut feels that American
writers are more socially concerned than
their European counterparts. The great
majority of them are self-taught, working
their way up through the ranks of
journalism or magazine work. Also, their
social concern tends to create a greater
discouragement among them.

Every artist or writer needs a streak of
paranoia to keep him going. He claims

Photo by Charley Sands

sleep would be his major occupation if he
did not have a good healthy fear of what
he is writing about. He writes about
American society.

As for his own creative talents, he
attributes it all to "automatic writing.' "I
see whatever comes out of my typewriter
and edit it." He regards his novels as a
"series of jokes", strung together with a
story line that develops itself.
"Slaughterhouse Five," he gave as an
example, was edited down from over one
thousand pages.

The source of the ever growing
"ennui' in America Mr. Vonnegut
attributes to the break up of traditional
folk societies. In the past there was a
group of about one hundred people