Saturday, September 26, 2015

Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview and Other Conversations edited by Tom McCartan

Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview and Other Conversations
edited by Tom McCartan [Biography Vonnegut]

This slender volume, part of Melville House publishing’s “Last Interview” series, reprints six different interviews with legendary American suthor Kurt Vonnegut, the last two of which were conducted in the final few weeks before Vonnegut died on April 11, 2007. Seeing Vonnegut’s personality coming through in a feisty way, in comments from 1977, 1980, and 1992 and then comparing them to a more world-weary Vonnegut in the interviews from 2006 and 2007 provides considerable insight into his attitudes and opinions about the issues covered in his novels. While I do highly recommend this volume, I will admit that there is a lot of repetition in the content of the interviews — all the interviewers seem to bring up the topic of Vonnegut’s experiences in Dresden, Germany during WWII and how that influenced his writings. It’s the little quirks in each of the interviews where we learn other things about this influential writer that I ended up finding fascinating.

[If you like this item, you might like these too – Other volumes in the “Last Interview” series, including those for Ray Bradbury and James Baldwin, as well as others not currently owned by the Lincoln City Libraries but available through InterLibrary Loan.] [ official Last Interviews web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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