Kurt Vonnegut, And So It Goes

Writing in the New York Times, Janet Maslin reviews a new biography of Kurt Vonnegut who served as New York State Author under the auspices of the Writers Institute from 2001 to 2003, and whose visit to Albany (speaking to a packed Page Hall) was a memorable occasion.

"Mr. Shields is not shy about using the words 'a definitive biography of an extraordinary man' to describe his book. And So It Goes is quick to trumpet its biggest selling points. Mr. Shields means to separate image from perception: He depicts Vonnegut as an essentially conservative Midwesterner, proud of his German heritage and capitalist instincts, who developed an aura of radical chic. He also describes a World War II isolationist who aligned himself with Charles A. Lindbergh yet became an antiwar literary hero. And he finds a life-affirming humanist sensibility in a writer celebrated for black humor. How this man would eventually be recruited to brainstorm with the Jefferson Airplane and be hipper than his own children are among the mysteries on which Mr. Shields casts light." More.