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Vonnegut

Andrew Smith's avatar
Andrew Smith
Nov 03, 2023
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Ever notice how the stuff I write has a little bit of irreverence to it?

I might zig when you expect me to zag during a history lesson, making commentary with a voice that steps completely outside of the narrative. At other times, I’ll try to get you to wonder whether something you’ve thought to be a given fact your entire life actually is true.

There is a method to this madness, and a lot of it came from reading a ton of Kurt Vonnegut earlier in life.

Giovanni Scifo

Vonnegut was a master of the metaphor, using analogies to tell a deeper story—all while maintaining the reader’s interest with sardonic wit and very, very clever storytelling. He was unafraid to question the status quo on all sorts of things, and I loved it.

Today, I want to tell you a little bit about Vonnegut the person, and in doing so I’ll talk about why I love these books so much, and how much they ultimately influenced my own writing.

The Introduction and Expansion

Slaughterhouse Five introduced me to the world of Kurt…

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