Page Fou JH E M IC IG A D AI Y _ ___ ____ ___ _ Su day Oc ober 17, 197
Page Four
IHE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, October 17, 1976
SUNDAY MAGAZINE
BOOKS
Vonnegut: Candid, but only up to a point
SLAPSTICK by Kurt Vona too intimate with them to laugh,
negut. New York: Delacorte without simultaneously feeling
Press. 243 pp., $7.95. a distinct twinge of discomfort.
Unfortunately however, Von-,
By ELAINE FLETCHER - negut's latest, - Slapstick -
YNE STRIKING aspect of fails to bring us close enough
Kurt Vonnegut's best work to its main characters, Wilbur
has been the mixture of pathos Rockefeller Swain, and his twin
and comedy which character- sister, Eliza, for this mixture
zed the antics of suchaheroes of the comic and the intimate to
as Billy Pilgrim and Eliot be achieved.
Rosewater. We laughed at their Instead we are treated to a
stupidity, insanity, obesity, series of vignettes (this time
poor skin and bad teeth. But they're in chronological order)
Vonnegut never let us off with which serve as a skeletal out-
just a simple guffaw. No, Billy line of the fantastic life of Wil-
Pilgrim and all the rest were ' bur Swain, who is more than
too human - or rather we were one hundred years old. Sort-
ing through the bones of this president of the United States. sister, collecting candlesticks the book feeling that Vonne-
ancient man's memories is an During his term the govern- and grunting an occasional "Hi gut's prime objective was to
absorbing pastime. You see, ment falls apart, the country is ho". conclude as quickly as possi-
Wilbur and his twin are both plagued by fluctuating levels of rTHE STORY follows in a long ble, with a minimum of effort
Neanderthaloids - monster like gravity and millions of minia- tradition of Vonnegutesque and pain.
humans, born of normal par- turized Chinese - who prove to social commentary on the staLe "This is what life feels like
ents. The twins spend their be lethal to Americans that of humankind now, and in the to me," says Vonnegut in a'
childhoods hidden away in Ver- inhale them. very near future. Although the prologue to his tale. But it is
mont, assumed to be idiots. President Swain however, is one topical comment which difficult to feel any empathy
When they put their minds to- preoccupied with carrying out stands out in this election year for Wilbur Swain, and the other
gether, though, the two do the promise inherent in his is perhaps a mere coincidence. characters, because Vonnegut
cerebral work worthy of a campaign slogan "Lonesome No Presidents Swain's plan to tells us very little about the
genius. More" by giving every Ameri- rename everyone in America feelings, of these people wan-
The twins eventually demon- j can an artificially extended meets with disapproval from the dering amid the ruins of New
strate their unique mental abili- family of 190,000. He hands out first lady, Sophie Rothschild. York City. When he starts to
ties to their parents and wind new middle names, which con- Says Swain, "I had to laugh get close, as he does in re-
up being separated. Eliza is sist of a noun (animal, mineral, when she (Sophie) received a counting the "incestuous rela-
committed to an mental insti- plant or vegetable) and a num- form letter from her president, tionship" of the two twins, we
tution, and then dies on Mars. ber. Everyone with the same who happened to be me, which are torn away quickly.
Meanwhile, Wilbur goes on to middle' name is related. Swain instructed her to stop being a Perhaps this detachment can
Harvard med school, and spends the rest of his life trying; Rothschild. She was to become be at least partly explained by
eventually becomes the last to make contact with his dead a Peanut-3 instead." a line in the prologue, in which
"I'm a Peanut now," she Vonnegut says: "This is prob-
said. "Peanuts live very close ably the closest I will ever
LUNCH-DISCUSSION TUES., Oct. 19, noon to the ground. Peanuts are fa- come to writing an autobiogra-
,, ,, mous for being low. They are phy."
China After Sao Tse Tung Ithe cheapest of the cheap, and , One could assume that the
the lowest of the low." effort was a failure because
Speaker, DR. ALLEN WHITING Although this sort of anec- Vonnegut is unable to reveal
PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE dotal humor keeps the reader Vonnegut before the public eye
AT THSE moving, - albeit rather halt- and shouldn't ever have
iug - rn ou h h i talcI ha ri ed
I
EC UME CA E N 1 CA L CAM PU S C E NT E R 'igy°~ runte ae
result is far from satisfactory.
921 CHURCH ;Characters weave in and out
LUNCH (75c) is prepared'and served by ;like worn out light bulbs flick-
Church Women United ering on and off. It is slapstick
RESERVATIONS REQUESTED 662-5529 comedy, sureenough, and good
entertainment. But one finishes
departure
H OWEVER the nature and book. In
content of the prologue about a
proves that Vonnegut can write which het
autobiography, if he so chooses. to the fun
This first chapter ik a radical cle in Ind
010
VQ 4 3')u J
I-
ANN ARBOR PUBLIC SC
SURPLUS SA
Desks-Cheap! Phonograph
Typewriters-Cheap! Book
Tables-Cheap! Furnitu
Ann Arbor Airport Hangar Roa
friday Oct. 15 and Saturday Oct. 16 9
from the rest of the IHis memories of this one
it, Vonnegut talks event carry an undercurrent of
real-life plane ride feeling completely lacking in
took with his brother,jlater chapters. Perhaps his
eral of a favorite un- words make such an impact be-
ianapolis. cause we never really have
heard before about Vonnegut
the person. We have 'never
heard Vonnegut discuss the
word love - not, at least, in
p tf. To I polite company or serious con-
versation. Nor have we heard
him talk about his uncle Alex,
an athiest and founder of the
Indianapolis chapter of Alco-
hal Anonymous. Vonnegut as-
I ures us that, "if Uncle Alex,
the athiest, found himself
standing before Saint Peter and
the Pearly Gates after he died,
I am certain he introduced
'himself as follows:
"'Mvy name is Alex Vonne-
gut. I'm an alcoholic.'"
"Good' for him," comments
Vonnegut.
Of his real-life sister Alice,
who died at 'age forty-one leav-
ing four children parentless,
Vonnegut has this comment:
"Exhaustion, yes, and deep
money worries, too, made her
say toward the end that she
guessed that she wasn't really
'HOOLS very good at life.
Then again neither were
Laurel and Hardy."
The parallels between the ex-
LE* periences Vonnegut outlines. in
his prologue and those of the
hs-Cheap mythical characters in the rest
ks-Cheap! of Slapstick are obvious. But
only in the prologue are emo-
re-Cheap tions stirred. It seems that
Vonnegut started out intending
to write honest autobiographic-
al material, but when it became
WS M.too painful, he opted to lapse
A.M . P into fantasy. In doing this, he
put a distance between himself
. and his audience.
Mi
I
L
al
Am
MONDAY-
LASAGNA NIGHT
All the Homemade Lasagna you can seat.
Salad included. 35O
TUESDAY- WEDNESDAY-
TEMPURA NIGHT HADDOCK NIGHT
All the 7-Vegetable and Rice Tempura you All the Flakey Fried Haddock you can eat . .
can eat. Greek Salad included... includes Cole Slaw.
$3.50 $3.50
THURSDAY- FRIDAY-
PIZZA NIGHT CHICKEN NIGHT
All the Pizza and Salad you can eat. All the Baked or Barbequed Chicken you can
$2.25 eat. Served with Salad and Corn-on-the-Cob.
$3.50
SATURDAY- SUNDAY-
STEAK and SHELLS NIGHT TURKEY and DRESSING DAY
A generous Top Sirloin Steak, served with all A Thanksgiving every week . .. with all the
the Shells and Salad you can eat, trimmings
$5.50 X5.25
... ... ....:... ..........................................................r................. :yF:<;:8.....::ii :i iiii}}:}iii:
ciate editor of the
a, ine.
Sunday Mag-
' !
t
s
3
E
i
t
SUNDAY
FRIED CHICKEN DINNER
hipped otaitws aind, Crumv Ge Sow $1.99.
Sunday Afternoon Football Actionj
on Our 7' TV Screen
DANCING FROM 9 TO 12 P.M.
1V.00Covcr Chorye (50c with St uden W. 1
0D
MONDAY
JUICY GROUND ROUND BURGER
Ttoppcedwi hr7 mlfton ,
olion )boconl, ord Cchee $1 49
DANCING!
.S covr ch ei S '00wihStu tDt }D
PETER FREELAND and his guitar be perform
foryour dinner enjoyment Mo Fn 4 7 p m
6'1 CHURCH $T.-9 595
WATCH THE
WORLD
SERIES
7' ADVENT TV
at the
Blue Frogge
BEER AT REDUCED PRICES
DURING THE GAME
P
gf,t uistScric
Playing Tonight
OHELLO
Oct. 13-17
Power Center
sa a t P TM e Fck 1 t12
i. u.i r Lo,oy , on . ,F, , 10-1,25
F f~o nnCall 764 0450
.W
p Ction with
Nri' ~Major Events Office'
and.UC.yTCKET
135 at Michigan
*:JUnion Box Office
10 a.m.-5 p.m.,
Schoolkids and both
0j* Discount Records,
x -
" d.. , ~ ... _- ± 'rk'':'. ..'SA T .'