Discussion Group for February 20... Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

[fljoe0]

Tonight at 8:00

You can find Harrison Bergeron in Vonnegut's collection, Welcome To The Monkey House or at this link

Harrison Bergeron

Be there, aloha

 

[GNTLGNT]

...I'm here.....I've always enjoyed anything of Kurt's that I've stumbled across......he is one of those rare writers who's quirkiness appeals to me, and this bit is no different....it really draws from his early years as a journalist and favors the dystopian feel of Animal Farm to me.....except here, the humans are the "sheeple"....yes, it's a funny piece-but in that, it defines dark humor.....what a completely bleak look at a possible future......intelligence, beauty, laughter etc., are all frowned upon by the minions of the United States Handicapper General. and equality is oppressively enforced rather than individually treasured.....I take the moral as the old saw...."be careful what you wish for"......good choice Joe!.......

 

[fljoe0]

This was written in 1961, so I think this story is a commentary on communism.

I thought the handicaps were pretty funny. Especially the ballerinas being weighted down.

 

[fljoe0]

my favorite line was when Harrison escaped

"If you see this boy," said the ballerina, "do not - I repeat, do not try to reason with him."

 

[Tery]

Dammit! I didn't read it; too busy digging out, calling insurance, etc. I will read it tonight and come back to you.

 

[Spideyman]

Found this to be a good social and political critique of a future world. Liked the character of Hazel the most. Her ability to cry-- have some sort of empathy---didn't know why, but something on the TV mad her sad.

 

[fljoe0]

Dammit! I didn't read it; too busy digging out, calling insurance, etc. I will read it tonight and come back to you.

It's not very long.

 

[Spideyman]

Being set in 2081, that leaves a mere 62 years into the future. Just think of "that" type of equality. Was it really equality?

 

[fljoe0]

Being set in 2081, that leaves a mere 62 years into the future. Just think of "that" type of equality. Was it really equality?

I think it's also a warning that we should not under value intelligence.

 

[Spideyman]

I think it's also a warning that we should not under value intelligence.

Absolutely.

And the mentioning of Amendments 211, 212, 213--- that's a lot of new Amendments in those 62 years!

 

[HollyGolightly]

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't believe I've ever read Vonnegut before. I totally loved this story and feel I've found a new author to pursue. This was a fantastic voyage to 2081 - I can't find a good way to say all I'm thinking. Just letting it sink in. No beauty, no ugly, poor April - no springtime. And Hazel - the gift of forgetting. Poor George with his painful genius brain. And their Superhero son, Harrison! It took a second read before I realized that Harrison must have given them the note to read on air. Yay Harrison! Better off dead than enslaved. Whew - thank you fljoe0 - I feel like I need a cigarette.

I'm going to google his stories and books and see if I really never read him before.

 

[Spideyman]

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't believe I've ever read Vonnegut before. I totally loved this story and feel I've found a new author to pursue. This was a fantastic voyage to 2081 - I can't find a good way to say all I'm thinking. Just letting it sink in. No beauty, no ugly, poor April - no springtime. And Hazel - the gift of forgetting. Poor George with his painful genius brain. And their Superhero son, Harrison! It took a second read before I realized that Harrison must have given them the note to read on air. Yay Harrison! Better off dead than enslaved. Whew - thank you fljoe0 - I feel like I need a cigarette.

I'm going to google his stories and books and see if I really never read him before.
View attachment 30283

A very similar story is Vonnegut's 1959 The Sirens of Titan.

 

[HollyGolightly]

I think it's also a warning that we should not under value intelligence.

Good point !

Absolutely.

And the mentioning of Amendments 211, 212, 213--- that's a lot of new Amendments in those 62 years!

I wonder if things got out of hand somewhere around 2018?

 

[Spideyman]

HollyGolightly

Spoiler: list of his works

Novels

• Player Piano (1952)
• The Sirens of Titan (1959)
• Mother Night (1961)
• Cat's Cradle (1963)
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)
• Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
• Breakfast of Champions (1973)
• Slapstick (1976)
• Jailbird (1979)
• Deadeye Dick (1982)
• Galápagos (1985)
• Bluebeard (1987)
• Hocus Pocus (1990)
• Timequake (1997)

Short fiction collections

• Canary in a Cat House (1961)
• Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
• Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)
• Between Time and Timbuktu (1972)
• Sun Moon Star (1980)
• Bagombo Snuff Box (1997)
• God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)
• Armageddon in Retrospect (2008) – short stories and essays
• Look at the Birdie (2009)
• While Mortals Sleep (2011)
• We Are What We Pretend to Be (2012)
• Sucker's Portfolio (2013)
• Complete Stories (2017)

Nonfiction

• Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974)
• Palm Sunday (1981)
• Nothing Is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays (1984)
• Fates Worse Than Death (1991)
• A Man Without a Country (2005)[61]
• Kurt Vonnegut: The Cornell Sun Years 1941–1943 (2012)
• If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young (2013)
• Vonnegut by the Dozen (2013)
• Kurt Vonnegut: Letters (2014)

Interviews

• Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut (1988) with William Rodney Allen
• Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation About Writing (2010) with Lee Stringer
• Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations (2011)

Art

• Kurt Vonnegut Drawings (2014)

 

[Spideyman]

Good point !



I wonder if things got out of hand somewhere around 2018?

 

[fljoe0]

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't believe I've ever read Vonnegut before. I totally loved this story and feel I've found a new author to pursue. This was a fantastic voyage to 2081 - I can't find a good way to say all I'm thinking. Just letting it sink in. No beauty, no ugly, poor April - no springtime. And Hazel - the gift of forgetting. Poor George with his painful genius brain. And their Superhero son, Harrison! It took a second read before I realized that Harrison must have given them the note to read on air. Yay Harrison! Better off dead than enslaved. Whew - thank you fljoe0 - I feel like I need a cigarette.

I'm going to google his stories and books and see if I really never read him before.
View attachment 30283

Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, Mother Night and Sirens Of Titan are my favorites.

 

[HollyGolightly]

HollyGolightly

Spoiler: list of his works

Novels

• Player Piano (1952)
• The Sirens of Titan (1959)
• Mother Night (1961)
• Cat's Cradle (1963)
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)
• Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
• Breakfast of Champions (1973)
• Slapstick (1976)
• Jailbird (1979)
• Deadeye Dick (1982)
• Galápagos (1985)
• Bluebeard (1987)
• Hocus Pocus (1990)
• Timequake (1997)

Short fiction collections

• Canary in a Cat House (1961)
• Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
• Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)
• Between Time and Timbuktu (1972)
• Sun Moon Star (1980)
• Bagombo Snuff Box (1997)
• God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)
• Armageddon in Retrospect (2008) – short stories and essays
• Look at the Birdie (2009)
• While Mortals Sleep (2011)
• We Are What We Pretend to Be (2012)
• Sucker's Portfolio (2013)
• Complete Stories (2017)

Nonfiction

• Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974)
• Palm Sunday (1981)
• Nothing Is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays (1984)
• Fates Worse Than Death (1991)
• A Man Without a Country (2005)[61]
• Kurt Vonnegut: The Cornell Sun Years 1941–1943 (2012)
• If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young (2013)
• Vonnegut by the Dozen (2013)
• Kurt Vonnegut: Letters (2014)

Interviews

• Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut (1988) with William Rodney Allen
• Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation About Writing (2010) with Lee Stringer
• Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations (2011)

Art

• Kurt Vonnegut Drawings (2014)

Wow - jackpot! Look at all those short story collections!
:swoon:

 

[fljoe0]

I wonder if things got out of hand somewhere around 2018?

I was thinking he got the numbers mixed up

 

[Spideyman]

I was thinking he got the numbers mixed up

Oh wow--- great catch-- spot on. Winner!!!

 

[HollyGolightly]

Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, Mother Night and Sirens Of Titan are my favorites.

Thank you! I think all of my children have read S/house 5. How he was never on my reading lists in high school and college I do not know. Well, sort of. In high school I don't recall ever having a required reading list. We'd have a list that was like this : read a novel set in the 18th century; read a biography of someone dead; read a current bestseller. I went to a very small school in a tiny town - so if you couldn't get it at the library, you couldn't read it. Unless you went to the big town about an hour away. Also, probably : censorship. I've been duped.