We are what we pretend to be: the first and last works
9781593157432
9781593157449
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 64d5169c-a9e8-a266-d41c-2d3e3bc5330b |
---|---|
Grouping Title | we are what we pretend to be the first and last works |
Grouping Author | kurt vonnegut |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-04-24 03:07:58AM |
Last Indexed | 2024-04-24 03:15:44AM |
Solr Fields
North Regional
Oberlin Regional
Richard B. Harrison Community
Southeast Regional
Wake Forest Community
West Regional
Morrisville Community - Adult Fiction
North Regional - Adult Fiction
Oberlin Regional - Adult Fiction
Richard B Harrison - Adult Fiction
Southeast Regional - Adult Fiction
Wake Forest Community - Adult Fiction
West Regional - Adult Fiction
Called "our finest black-humorist" by The Atlantic Monthly, Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Now his first and last works come together for the first time in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, We Are What We Pretend To Be.
Written to be sold under the pseudonym of "Mark Harvey," Basic Training was never published in Vonnegut's lifetime. It appears to have been written in the late 1940s and is therefore Vonnegut's first ever novella. It is a bitter, profoundly disenchanted story that satirizes the military, authoritarianism, gender relationships, parenthood and most of the assumed mid-century myths of the family. Haley Brandon, the adolescent protagonist, comes to the farm of his relative, the old crazy who insists upon being called The General, to learn to be a straight-shooting American. Haley's only means of survival will lead him to unflagging defiance of the General's deranged (but oh so American, oh so military) values. This story and its thirtyish author were no friends of the milieu to which the slick magazines' advertisers were pitching their products.
When Vonnegut passed away in 2007, he left his last novel unfinished. Entitled If God Were Alive Today, this last work is a brutal satire on societal ignorance and carefree denial of the world's major problems. Protagonist Gil Berman is a middle-aged college lecturer and self-declared stand-up comedian who enjoys cracking jokes in front of a college audience while societal dependence on fossil fuels has led to the apocalypse. Described by Vonnegut as, "the stand-up comedian on Doomsday," Gil is a character formed from Vonnegut's own rich experiences living in a reality Vonnegut himself considered inevitable.
Along with the two works of fiction, Vonnegut's daughter, Nanette shares reminiscences about her father and commentary on these two works—both exclusive to this edition.
In this fiction collection, published in print for the first time, exist Vonnegut's grand themes: trust no one, trust nothing; and the only constants are absurdity and resignation, which themselves cannot protect us from the void but might divert.eBook
eBook
9781593157432
9781593157449
Morrisville Community
North Regional
Oberlin Regional
Richard B. Harrison Community
Southeast Regional
Wake Forest Community
West Regional
Farm life -- Fiction
We are what we pretend to be : the first and last works / Kurt Vonnegut
Farm life
Fiction
Literature
Solr Details Tables
item_details
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:670910 | 7972850 | Fuquay-Varina Community - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | FUQ | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972854 | Wake Forest Community - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | WAK | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972847 | Morrisville Community - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | Checked out | MOR | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972851 | North Regional - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | NOR | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972856 | Oberlin Regional - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | OBR | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972849 | Southeast Regional - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | SER | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972848 | Richard B Harrison - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | RBH | |||||
ils:670910 | 7972855 | West Regional - Adult Fiction | VONNEGUT | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | WRL | |||||
overdrive:d4e38cf4-10d4-4761-9aec-8d40ac91579c | -1 | Online OverDrive Collection | Online OverDrive | eBook | eBook | 3 | false | true | OverDrive | Available Online |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:670910 | Book | Books | English | Vanguard Press | [2012] | xiii, 161 pages ; 22 cm | ||
overdrive:d4e38cf4-10d4-4761-9aec-8d40ac91579c | eBook | eBook | English | Vanguard Press | 2012 |
scoping_details_catalog
Bib Id | Item Id | Grouped Status | Status | Locally Owned | Available | Holdable | Bookable | In Library Use Only | Library Owned | Holdable PTypes | Bookable PTypes | Local Url |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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ils:670910 | 7972854 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | |||
ils:670910 | 7972847 | Checked out | Checked out | false | false | true | false | false | true | |||
ils:670910 | 7972851 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | |||
ils:670910 | 7972856 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | |||
ils:670910 | 7972849 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | |||
ils:670910 | 7972848 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | |||
ils:670910 | 7972855 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | true | |||
overdrive:d4e38cf4-10d4-4761-9aec-8d40ac91579c | -1 | Available Online | Available Online | false | true | true | false | false | false |