We met again via ZOOM on Thursday, May 25, 2023 to discuss KV’s

1968 collection of 25 short stories in “Welcome to the Monkey

House.”  Those participating were Bill Briscoe, Gene Helveston,

John Clair, Sarona Burchard, Cheryl Carroll, and Dave Young.

It was noted that two of the entries were unusual.   “New

Dictionary” was not a short story at all, but a book review of a

revised 1966 editon of the Random House Dictionary and all of it’s

logomachy which appeared in the New York Times in the fall of 1966.  

Another anomaly was the short story “The Hyannis Port Story” which

featured the Kennedy family.  It was purchased in 1963 by the

Saturday Evening Post but was never published due to sensitivity about

the assassination of JFGK.

We hunted and pecked through several of the other 23 stories. 

It’s hard to summarize our reactions to them but we generally liked

what we read.  We could see how he developed as a short story writer

over the years.   To make a living, he was selling his stuff to mass

market family magazines and he played it safe.  You won’t find much

sex or violence in these stories.   After TV drove the mass-market

magazines out of business,  he concentrated on his novels, where he

could be more daring.

Trying to immerse myself in the culture that TV took away,  I became bogged

down in the 1950’s.  My parents subscribed to the Saturday Evening Post

and Red Book while I was content with Boy’s Life and the Saturday

Review of Literature.  My grandmother sent me clippings from the 

Reader’s Digest which she hoped would improve my character.

Somehow, I got to read Esquire and Playboy, maybe at the Library

or the news rack next to the soda fountain at the drug store.

Respectable people did not subscribe to those mags and if

they did, they received them plain in a brown wrapper.  A first

class postal stamp cost three cents and the mailman came

twice a day as we eagerly awaited new stuff.

I don’t remember reading Vonnegut in those days and he

was never brought up in my many college lit classes.

Vonnegut grew up a few blocks where I have lived for

many years and maybe that was the connection.  Anyway

I didn’t take him seriously until I joined the book club in 2010.

Enough about me!

Vonnegut was prescient about so many things while most of

us were worried about nuclear war and the spread of Communism.

“Harrison Bergeron” is a satire about government-forced equality.

“Report on the “Barnhouse Effect” deals with mind-control, while

“EPICAC”  is a takedown of artificial intelligence.  The title

story “Welcome to the Monkey House” is a treatment of

government-endorsed assisted suicide.  “The Euphoria Question”

muses about the use of a machine that makes people happy.

Our discussion went all over the map and my notes are

more chaotic than usual, so I will just quit right here!

We gave this little book a 9.2 rating on the highly acclaimed KV ten

point scale.  One of our best ratings ever.   We were so pleased

with ourselves that we resolved to cover the rest of the short

stories in “Monkey House” and perhaps some more in our next meeting.    If you want

more of this stuff,  I suggest you look at  “Bagombo Snuff Box”

(23 short stories).   If you want to go whole hog and get all 98 of

his short stories, you should get “Kurt Vonnegut Complete Stores”

(2017) edited by Jerome Klinkowitz and Dan Wakefield.  It is

available on Amazon for about $32.   I am attaching a list of all 98

stories (incuding five that were never published).

Dave Young

********************

So, we will meet again via ZOOM at 11AM on Thursday, June 22, 2023

(My how the time slips away!).  Here is the ZOOM link:

You are invited to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Topic for 6/22/23 is more of KV’s short stories

Time: Jun 22, 2023 10:30 AM Indiana (East).  (log in early if you

want to chat)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84048059253?pwd=RlFtbFErU1lRTHZtZXNQc3o0OUJMUT09

[1]

Meeting ID: 840 4805 9253

Passcode: 112497

******************************

Excerpt from Wikipedia:  “Kurt Vonnegut: The Complete Stories” (2017)

Complete Stories (Seven Stories Press) is a 2017 collection of most of Kurt Vonnegut‘s previously published short stories, and several that were previously unpublished. The collection is introduced with a foreword by Dave Eggers, and is edited by Jerome Klinkowitz and Dan Wakefield.

This collection features 98 short stories:

Contents[edit]

Part 1: War[edit]

Part 2: Women[edit]

Part 3: Science[edit]

Part 4: Romance[edit]

Part 5: Work Ethic versus Fame and Fortune[edit]

Part 6: Behavior[edit]

Part 7: The Band Director[edit]

Part 8: Futuristic[edit]

******END*********