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Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction
Before the Golden Age of magazines drew to a close half a century ago--soon to be beaten at the entertainment game by the new little boxes with moving images that were finding their way into the homes of more & more Americans--a young PR man at General Electric sold his 1st short story to one of the doomed publications. By the time he'd sold his 34d, he decided to quit GE & join the likes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald & Faulkner. & try to make a living at 1500 dollars a pop. With four major magazines running five stories each week & smaller ones scouting as well, it was a seller's market, & Kurt Vonnegut was delighted & comfortable being published regularly by The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Argosy & others.
295 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1999
307 people are currently reading
7059 people want to read
About the author
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
640 books36.5k followersKurt Vonnegut, Junior was an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. He was recognized as New York State Author for 2001-2003.
He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journalist before joining the U.S. Army and serving in World War II.
After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.
His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five, the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.
Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973)
He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journalist before joining the U.S. Army and serving in World War II.
After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.
His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five, the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.
Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 489 reviews
April 6, 2020
“Why don't you say, 'I am going to build a life for myself, for my time, and make it a work of art'?. . . Design your life like that Finnish carafe over there--clean, harmonious, alive with the cool, tart soul of truth in our time.”
A short collection of early short stories by Vonnegut, with an introduction by the author himself, which is the highlight of the collection, especially since I listened to it in the car. I only listened to this now because it was the only free Vonnegut collection I could find from my library’s subscription series, and I wanted to breathe in some of his comforting, bemused, humane cynicism. The collection is not his best work, but you do hear his voice in the stories and there’s playfulness and reflection on American consumerist/war culture throughout.
Having just read George Saunders, I feel they are kindred spirits. And also with fellow (for a time) Chicagoan Ray Bradbury, though there are only two science fiction stories here. It’s the warmth, that humane, aw-shucks tone they can affect at times. And Mark Twain, I often think of him when I read Vonnegut.
The introduction is about how he started to make money as a short story writer and was able to get out of working for General Electric. It includes reflections on a time when more people read short stories (though it seems steadily the same to me over the past decades, not as popular as novels, of course).
He shares his advice for writers, which is invaluable:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things: Reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them, in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
Most of the stories are inferior to ones in later collections, but the best of them is "2 B R 0 2 B" which is a satire on population control.
A short collection of early short stories by Vonnegut, with an introduction by the author himself, which is the highlight of the collection, especially since I listened to it in the car. I only listened to this now because it was the only free Vonnegut collection I could find from my library’s subscription series, and I wanted to breathe in some of his comforting, bemused, humane cynicism. The collection is not his best work, but you do hear his voice in the stories and there’s playfulness and reflection on American consumerist/war culture throughout.
Having just read George Saunders, I feel they are kindred spirits. And also with fellow (for a time) Chicagoan Ray Bradbury, though there are only two science fiction stories here. It’s the warmth, that humane, aw-shucks tone they can affect at times. And Mark Twain, I often think of him when I read Vonnegut.
The introduction is about how he started to make money as a short story writer and was able to get out of working for General Electric. It includes reflections on a time when more people read short stories (though it seems steadily the same to me over the past decades, not as popular as novels, of course).
He shares his advice for writers, which is invaluable:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things: Reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them, in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
Most of the stories are inferior to ones in later collections, but the best of them is "2 B R 0 2 B" which is a satire on population control.
August 22, 2022
Vonnegut înainte de Vonnegut...
În „Introducerea” la această carte, prozatorul vorbește cu extremă modestie despre povestirile scrise la începutul anilor 50 ai secolului trecut: „Eram convins că nu fac nici cît o ceapă degerată. Nu voiam decît să-mi întrețin familia” (p.17). În „Cuvîntul final despre cariera mea de scriitor pentru reviste”, prozatorul este și mai aspru. Găsește că deznodămîntul cîtorva povestiri este de-a dreptul „stupid” (p.339). Ca admirator al lui, aș spune că nu trebuie să-l credem pe cuvînt. Ca individ care nu vrea să mintă pe nimeni, aș spune că Vonnegut nu este foarte departe de adevăr. Multe povestiri sînt banale, demonstrative (aș numi „Dragonul auriu” și „Jolly Roger în croazieră”). Altele nu. Exemplul cel mai bun este negreșit chiar „Tabachera din Bagombo”.
Cel care a spus că geniul este o lungă răbdare n-a greșit cu totul. Kurt Vonnegut a muncit din greu pentru a deveni marele prozator din Abatorul cinci, din Leagănul pisicii, din Mama Noapte. A muncit din greu și aproape fără speranță: „Încet dar sigur, Soarta... începuse să facă din mine un scriitor de ficțiune și un ratat, și asta a durat pînă cînd am împlinit patruzeci și șapte de ani, fir-ar să fie” (p.22). Nu-i ușor să trăiești cu gîndul neîmplinirii, să continui să te analizezi lucid, să rămîi franc. Ratații au tendința să devină mitomani. Vonnegut a ocolit ispita, și-a păstrat cumpătul. Și a perseverat. N-a devenit nici depresiv. Pînă la urmă, „Soarta” (nu știu dacă acest cuvînt desemnează altceva decît hazardul) i-a făcut dreptate.
Există în acest volum cîteva proze remarcabile. Aș adăuga lîngă titlul menționat mai sus („Tabachera...”): „Săracul orășel bogat”, „Suvenirul”, „Der arme Dolmetscher”. Mai sînt, firește, și altele. Nu mai pun la socoteală „Introducerea” și „Cuvîntul final...”, texte redactate tîrziu (în 1999), cu ocazia publicării în volum a vechilor povestiri. Cuprind observații și îndemnuri (pentru tinerii scriitori) pline de bun simț și modestie.
În „Introducerea” la această carte, prozatorul vorbește cu extremă modestie despre povestirile scrise la începutul anilor 50 ai secolului trecut: „Eram convins că nu fac nici cît o ceapă degerată. Nu voiam decît să-mi întrețin familia” (p.17). În „Cuvîntul final despre cariera mea de scriitor pentru reviste”, prozatorul este și mai aspru. Găsește că deznodămîntul cîtorva povestiri este de-a dreptul „stupid” (p.339). Ca admirator al lui, aș spune că nu trebuie să-l credem pe cuvînt. Ca individ care nu vrea să mintă pe nimeni, aș spune că Vonnegut nu este foarte departe de adevăr. Multe povestiri sînt banale, demonstrative (aș numi „Dragonul auriu” și „Jolly Roger în croazieră”). Altele nu. Exemplul cel mai bun este negreșit chiar „Tabachera din Bagombo”.
Cel care a spus că geniul este o lungă răbdare n-a greșit cu totul. Kurt Vonnegut a muncit din greu pentru a deveni marele prozator din Abatorul cinci, din Leagănul pisicii, din Mama Noapte. A muncit din greu și aproape fără speranță: „Încet dar sigur, Soarta... începuse să facă din mine un scriitor de ficțiune și un ratat, și asta a durat pînă cînd am împlinit patruzeci și șapte de ani, fir-ar să fie” (p.22). Nu-i ușor să trăiești cu gîndul neîmplinirii, să continui să te analizezi lucid, să rămîi franc. Ratații au tendința să devină mitomani. Vonnegut a ocolit ispita, și-a păstrat cumpătul. Și a perseverat. N-a devenit nici depresiv. Pînă la urmă, „Soarta” (nu știu dacă acest cuvînt desemnează altceva decît hazardul) i-a făcut dreptate.
Există în acest volum cîteva proze remarcabile. Aș adăuga lîngă titlul menționat mai sus („Tabachera...”): „Săracul orășel bogat”, „Suvenirul”, „Der arme Dolmetscher”. Mai sînt, firește, și altele. Nu mai pun la socoteală „Introducerea” și „Cuvîntul final...”, texte redactate tîrziu (în 1999), cu ocazia publicării în volum a vechilor povestiri. Cuprind observații și îndemnuri (pentru tinerii scriitori) pline de bun simț și modestie.
February 22, 2019
“A man sells something priceless for a price he can’t resist.”
The genre of short story is hit or miss with me. Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories are usually the same way. In his Introduction to this collection of “Buddhist catnaps” as Vonnegut calls all short stories, I am reminded why I love this writer so much. “Bagombo Snuff Box” is a collection of 23 stories that Vonnegut wrote during his days as a writer of short fiction peddling his wares to the various magazines of the day. Most were written in the 1950s.
As mentioned, I am not a fan of short stories in general, but Vonnegut’s gift for quick and artful characterization makes otherwise bland stories at least interesting. The first paragraph of the story “Souvenir” is one of the most adept brief characterizations I have come across in literature. My instant distaste for the character made me feel sadness, as there are many folks like Joe Bane (the character’s name) in this world. In one paragraph, Vonnegut captures their essence.
The collection also includes some lovely stories that follow Vonnegut’s persistent theme of simplicity. “Poor Little Rich Town” has a classic Vonnegut ring to it and a pastoral sense of life that is not driven by profit & commodity margins. The same feeling can be said of the story “The Cruise of the Jolly Roger”, a tribute to veterans and the beauty of a small and peaceful quiet village life.
This text also features three stories about George M. Helmholtz, director of the Lincoln High School Band. Helmholtz is one of my favorite Vonnegut creations. A complete character and one I adore. He was featured in one of my favorite Vonnegut stories from his 1968 collection “Welcome to the Monkey House”. I wish Helmholtz had been a protagonist of one of Vonnegut’s novels. The character was worthy of one.
Also noteworthy is the piece, “A Night for Love”. It is a love story, a simple story, and one unlike most Vonnegut I have read (stylistically). It is a story that speaks a simple, elegant truth about human interactions.
Some people have criticized this collection (published in 1999) as dated. Yep, some of the stories are certainly dated. They are products of their time, the 1950s. So what? They should be products of their time. You reading this review right now are a product of your time, why shouldn’t Vonnegut be one of his?
“Bagombo Snuff Box” ends with a short nonfiction essay that Vonnegut wrote about the Midwest for an Indianapolis magazine in 1999. It aptly demonstrates what I admire and love about him. Being an Ohio boy I am proud Vonnegut’s work was so firmly rooted in the ethos of Midwestern culture.
This collection is not good as an introduction to Mr. Vonnegut, but if you have read some of his stronger works and like what you have seen, you should pick this one up too.
The genre of short story is hit or miss with me. Kurt Vonnegut’s short stories are usually the same way. In his Introduction to this collection of “Buddhist catnaps” as Vonnegut calls all short stories, I am reminded why I love this writer so much. “Bagombo Snuff Box” is a collection of 23 stories that Vonnegut wrote during his days as a writer of short fiction peddling his wares to the various magazines of the day. Most were written in the 1950s.
As mentioned, I am not a fan of short stories in general, but Vonnegut’s gift for quick and artful characterization makes otherwise bland stories at least interesting. The first paragraph of the story “Souvenir” is one of the most adept brief characterizations I have come across in literature. My instant distaste for the character made me feel sadness, as there are many folks like Joe Bane (the character’s name) in this world. In one paragraph, Vonnegut captures their essence.
The collection also includes some lovely stories that follow Vonnegut’s persistent theme of simplicity. “Poor Little Rich Town” has a classic Vonnegut ring to it and a pastoral sense of life that is not driven by profit & commodity margins. The same feeling can be said of the story “The Cruise of the Jolly Roger”, a tribute to veterans and the beauty of a small and peaceful quiet village life.
This text also features three stories about George M. Helmholtz, director of the Lincoln High School Band. Helmholtz is one of my favorite Vonnegut creations. A complete character and one I adore. He was featured in one of my favorite Vonnegut stories from his 1968 collection “Welcome to the Monkey House”. I wish Helmholtz had been a protagonist of one of Vonnegut’s novels. The character was worthy of one.
Also noteworthy is the piece, “A Night for Love”. It is a love story, a simple story, and one unlike most Vonnegut I have read (stylistically). It is a story that speaks a simple, elegant truth about human interactions.
Some people have criticized this collection (published in 1999) as dated. Yep, some of the stories are certainly dated. They are products of their time, the 1950s. So what? They should be products of their time. You reading this review right now are a product of your time, why shouldn’t Vonnegut be one of his?
“Bagombo Snuff Box” ends with a short nonfiction essay that Vonnegut wrote about the Midwest for an Indianapolis magazine in 1999. It aptly demonstrates what I admire and love about him. Being an Ohio boy I am proud Vonnegut’s work was so firmly rooted in the ethos of Midwestern culture.
This collection is not good as an introduction to Mr. Vonnegut, but if you have read some of his stronger works and like what you have seen, you should pick this one up too.
November 11, 2023
How does one rate a collection of short stories? Should I rate each story then average them out? Or should I invent some amalgamated, conglomerated, overall valuation based on gut feelings and my present mood? I find it so much easier to rate nonfiction. Nonfiction seems much less arbitrary and capricious.
Here’s the compromise—I’ll list all the stories along with where & when they were originally published. Then, I’ll give the whole thing five stars (because it’s Vonnegut) minus one star (because I don’t want to seem too obsessive).
Thanasphere, Collier's Weekly 1950
The Boy Who Hated Girls,* Saturday Evening Post 1956
Souvenir, Argosy 1952
A Present for Big Nick, Argosy 1954
Custom-Made Bride, Saturday Evening Post 1954
Hal Erwin’s Magic Lamp,* Canary in a Cat House 1957
Lovers Anonymous, Redbook 1963
Bagombo Snuffbox, Cosmopolitan 1954
The Cruise of Jolly Roger, Cape Cod Compass 1953
This Son of Mine…, Saturday Evening Post 1956
2 B R 0 2 B, Worlds of If 1962
The Powder Blue Dragon,* Cosmopolitan 1954
*According to Vonnegut’s coda, both The Boy Who Hated Girls and The Powder Blue Dragon were extensively rewritten before being published in this collection.
Here’s the compromise—I’ll list all the stories along with where & when they were originally published. Then, I’ll give the whole thing five stars (because it’s Vonnegut) minus one star (because I don’t want to seem too obsessive).
Thanasphere, Collier's Weekly 1950
The Boy Who Hated Girls,* Saturday Evening Post 1956
Souvenir, Argosy 1952
A Present for Big Nick, Argosy 1954
Custom-Made Bride, Saturday Evening Post 1954
Hal Erwin’s Magic Lamp,* Canary in a Cat House 1957
Lovers Anonymous, Redbook 1963
Bagombo Snuffbox, Cosmopolitan 1954
The Cruise of Jolly Roger, Cape Cod Compass 1953
This Son of Mine…, Saturday Evening Post 1956
2 B R 0 2 B, Worlds of If 1962
The Powder Blue Dragon,* Cosmopolitan 1954
*According to Vonnegut’s coda, both The Boy Who Hated Girls and The Powder Blue Dragon were extensively rewritten before being published in this collection.
July 9, 2012
I guess Vonnegut is known mostly for his novels, but I've always been a big fan of his short fiction. No one else seems to pack such vitality into so few pages, and this collection really highlights his versatility.
Some of the stories are humorous - a realtor learns a thing or two from some prospective buyers, a town comes to regret embracing an efficiency expert, and a mob Santa Claus receives a special present.
And some are bittersweet - a man attempts to pawn a wartime souvenir, a school band director learns there's more to life than winning competitions.
Two of the standouts showcase Vonnegut's mastery of science fiction.
In Thanasphere, the Air Force receives this message from their man in deep space:
"A child," said the Major. "I hear a child crying. Don't you hear it?"
That line still gives me goosebumps, and is as chilling as anything Stephen King ever wrote.
2BRO2B tells of a future world where old age, death, and disease have been conquered. And everything works out fine, until someone has a baby:
"Triplets!" she said. She was exclaiming over the legal implications of triplets.
The law said that no newborn child could survive unless the parents of the child could find someone who would volunteer to die. Triplets, if they were all to live, called for three volunteers.
Vonnegut provides a wonderful introduction to the book, waxing nostalgic about the early 1950s and the heyday of the short story.
There was a crazy seller's market for short stories in 1950. There were four weekly magazines that published three or more of the things in every issue. Six monthlies did the same.
That seems almost unimaginable today. Short stories are still out there. It's harder to find them these days. But it's definitely worth the effort.
There are on many campuses, moreover, local papers, weeklies or monthlies, that publish short stories but cannot pay for them. What the heck, practicing an art isn't a way to earn money.
It's a way to make one's soul grow.
Some of the stories are humorous - a realtor learns a thing or two from some prospective buyers, a town comes to regret embracing an efficiency expert, and a mob Santa Claus receives a special present.
And some are bittersweet - a man attempts to pawn a wartime souvenir, a school band director learns there's more to life than winning competitions.
Two of the standouts showcase Vonnegut's mastery of science fiction.
In Thanasphere, the Air Force receives this message from their man in deep space:
"A child," said the Major. "I hear a child crying. Don't you hear it?"
That line still gives me goosebumps, and is as chilling as anything Stephen King ever wrote.
2BRO2B tells of a future world where old age, death, and disease have been conquered. And everything works out fine, until someone has a baby:
"Triplets!" she said. She was exclaiming over the legal implications of triplets.
The law said that no newborn child could survive unless the parents of the child could find someone who would volunteer to die. Triplets, if they were all to live, called for three volunteers.
Vonnegut provides a wonderful introduction to the book, waxing nostalgic about the early 1950s and the heyday of the short story.
There was a crazy seller's market for short stories in 1950. There were four weekly magazines that published three or more of the things in every issue. Six monthlies did the same.
That seems almost unimaginable today. Short stories are still out there. It's harder to find them these days. But it's definitely worth the effort.
There are on many campuses, moreover, local papers, weeklies or monthlies, that publish short stories but cannot pay for them. What the heck, practicing an art isn't a way to earn money.
It's a way to make one's soul grow.
March 13, 2010
A collection of Vonnegut's earliest work for '50s/60s periodicals.
As the Master himself points out in the marvellous introduction, these are embryonic stories, stylistically clumsy and written purely for financial gain.
This doesn't make the work any less playful and Vonnegutian, though the bulk of these stories have a more moralistic feel to them, and only shades of the postmodern hilarity he would become known for is evident throughout.
Thanasphere and 2BRO2B are the only sci-fi entries. The rest deal with the aspirations of poor blue-collar characters and have an incomplete, drab feel (redeemed in part by Vonnegut's humourous dialogue).
Runaways is a standout -- a hilarious inversion of the teenage love story.
For Vonnegut die-hards only!
As the Master himself points out in the marvellous introduction, these are embryonic stories, stylistically clumsy and written purely for financial gain.
This doesn't make the work any less playful and Vonnegutian, though the bulk of these stories have a more moralistic feel to them, and only shades of the postmodern hilarity he would become known for is evident throughout.
Thanasphere and 2BRO2B are the only sci-fi entries. The rest deal with the aspirations of poor blue-collar characters and have an incomplete, drab feel (redeemed in part by Vonnegut's humourous dialogue).
Runaways is a standout -- a hilarious inversion of the teenage love story.
For Vonnegut die-hards only!
January 11, 2024
E aproape obositor să tot constat câți scriitori foarte buni au avut și încă au nord-americanii. Probabil, cea mai mare literatură a lumii.
December 10, 2009
Creative Writing 101:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the worls, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
I might as well settle here as anywhere, since I haven't very strong reasons for living in any particular part of the country. 54
Why don't you say, 'I am going to build a life for myself, for my time, and make it a work of art'? ... Design your life like that Finnish carafe over there clean, harmonious, alive with the cool, tart soul of truth in our time. 112
As he walked up to Amy's small, ordinary house, he managed a smile of sad maturity, the smile of a man who has hurt and been hurt, who has seen everything, who has learned a great deal from it all, and who, incidentally, has made a lot of money along the way. 139
He was being asked to match his father's passion for the factory with an equal passion for something else. And Franklin had no such passion-for the theater or anything else.
He had nothing but the bittersweet, almost formless longings of youth. 206
He wanted to cray about growing old, about the shabby ends brave young lovers came to. 224
One of the worst mistakes a person can makes, sometimes, I guess, is to try to get away from people and think. It's a great way to lose your forward motion. 238
From what I've seen of the rich people I grew up with, money just makes people worried and unhappy. People with a lot of money get so worried about how maybe they'll lose it, they forget to live. 254
If we should try to prove our love,
Our love would be in danger.
Let's put our love beyond all harm.
Good-bye - sweet, gentle stranger. 257
The world could do with a good deal more mess, if you ask me. 262
I guess the world seems so upside down so often is that everybody figures he's doing things on account of somebody else. 279
Housewifery is a swindle, if a woman can do more. 279
Women are awful bluffers sometimes. 279
What (creative writing) students wanted and got, and what so many of their children are getting, was a cheap way to externalize what was inside them, to see in black-and-white who they were and what they might become. 290
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the worls, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
I might as well settle here as anywhere, since I haven't very strong reasons for living in any particular part of the country. 54
Why don't you say, 'I am going to build a life for myself, for my time, and make it a work of art'? ... Design your life like that Finnish carafe over there clean, harmonious, alive with the cool, tart soul of truth in our time. 112
As he walked up to Amy's small, ordinary house, he managed a smile of sad maturity, the smile of a man who has hurt and been hurt, who has seen everything, who has learned a great deal from it all, and who, incidentally, has made a lot of money along the way. 139
He was being asked to match his father's passion for the factory with an equal passion for something else. And Franklin had no such passion-for the theater or anything else.
He had nothing but the bittersweet, almost formless longings of youth. 206
He wanted to cray about growing old, about the shabby ends brave young lovers came to. 224
One of the worst mistakes a person can makes, sometimes, I guess, is to try to get away from people and think. It's a great way to lose your forward motion. 238
From what I've seen of the rich people I grew up with, money just makes people worried and unhappy. People with a lot of money get so worried about how maybe they'll lose it, they forget to live. 254
If we should try to prove our love,
Our love would be in danger.
Let's put our love beyond all harm.
Good-bye - sweet, gentle stranger. 257
The world could do with a good deal more mess, if you ask me. 262
I guess the world seems so upside down so often is that everybody figures he's doing things on account of somebody else. 279
Housewifery is a swindle, if a woman can do more. 279
Women are awful bluffers sometimes. 279
What (creative writing) students wanted and got, and what so many of their children are getting, was a cheap way to externalize what was inside them, to see in black-and-white who they were and what they might become. 290
May 16, 2023
Bagombo Snuff Box is inconsistent in terms of story quality. Perhaps Vonnegut could have kept some of these earlier published stories in the drawer? Nevertheless, it is still enjoyable on the whole.
December 19, 2017
For Kurt Vonnegut, I did not care for these stories. I know he got his start in science fiction, but maybe it’s my reluctance to love short stories?
I love everything Papa Kurt has written, but this just didn’t do it for me. I’m really disappointed about it.
I love everything Papa Kurt has written, but this just didn’t do it for me. I’m really disappointed about it.
July 6, 2015
What a surely, purely, coincidentally, appropriate title!
I say this, because this book is nothing short of a snuff box for a Vonnegut fan and that is how I have been using it for past 2 weeks. One or two stories a day to make my troubles drop away.
The book contains 23 wonderful stories, accompanied by a brilliant preface by Peter Reed ( author of at least 4 books on Vonnegut and his works) and an introduction by Kurt Vonnegut himself, which contains his eight rules for creative writing, out of which most important is,
Rule No. 1: Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
And Vonnegut never breaks this rule in any of his stories.
The stories in this collection are from early stage of Kurt Vonnegut’s career and were written to support his family. In these stories he honed his skill and worked on themes which were to be further developed and featured in his later, more popular works. Themes like pretense, father-son relation, limitations of science, and confusion of war.
Kurt Vonnegut writes about these stories-
As fossils, they are fakes on the order of Piltdown Man, half human being, half the orangutan I used to be.
Short stories can have greatness, short as they have to be. But there is no greatness in this or my other collection, nor was there meant to be.
I am not learned enough to vouch for greatness, but they surely do have style. Style is evident from the outset of this book. Even before the Table of Contents! Just go through this epigraph, my sir/madam:
As in my other works of fiction:
All persons living and dead are purely coincidental, and should not be construed. No names have been changed in order to protect the innocent. Angels protect the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine.
More style (at a shooting game):
Not giving a damn, he had come to be at one with the universe. With brainless harmony like that, he’d found that he couldn’t miss.
More style (with more humor):
“I can’t help taking an interest,” said Cady."It causes me actual physical pain to see things done the wrong way, when it’s so easy to do them the right way. Oops! Moved your right thumb back to where I told you not to put it!”
“Chief Atkins,” whispered Upton Beaton in the meeting hall.
“Eh?”
“Don’t you scratch your head like that,” said Beaton."Spread your fingers like this, see? Then dig in. Cover twice as much scalp in half the time.”
Recommended for everyone!
I say this, because this book is nothing short of a snuff box for a Vonnegut fan and that is how I have been using it for past 2 weeks. One or two stories a day to make my troubles drop away.
The book contains 23 wonderful stories, accompanied by a brilliant preface by Peter Reed ( author of at least 4 books on Vonnegut and his works) and an introduction by Kurt Vonnegut himself, which contains his eight rules for creative writing, out of which most important is,
Rule No. 1: Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
And Vonnegut never breaks this rule in any of his stories.
The stories in this collection are from early stage of Kurt Vonnegut’s career and were written to support his family. In these stories he honed his skill and worked on themes which were to be further developed and featured in his later, more popular works. Themes like pretense, father-son relation, limitations of science, and confusion of war.
Kurt Vonnegut writes about these stories-
As fossils, they are fakes on the order of Piltdown Man, half human being, half the orangutan I used to be.
Short stories can have greatness, short as they have to be. But there is no greatness in this or my other collection, nor was there meant to be.
I am not learned enough to vouch for greatness, but they surely do have style. Style is evident from the outset of this book. Even before the Table of Contents! Just go through this epigraph, my sir/madam:
As in my other works of fiction:
All persons living and dead are purely coincidental, and should not be construed. No names have been changed in order to protect the innocent. Angels protect the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine.
More style (at a shooting game):
Not giving a damn, he had come to be at one with the universe. With brainless harmony like that, he’d found that he couldn’t miss.
More style (with more humor):
“I can’t help taking an interest,” said Cady."It causes me actual physical pain to see things done the wrong way, when it’s so easy to do them the right way. Oops! Moved your right thumb back to where I told you not to put it!”
“Chief Atkins,” whispered Upton Beaton in the meeting hall.
“Eh?”
“Don’t you scratch your head like that,” said Beaton."Spread your fingers like this, see? Then dig in. Cover twice as much scalp in half the time.”
Recommended for everyone!
October 5, 2011
I don't care if you ever read this book, and in fact, though I know I did (and apparently gave it three stars several years ago), I don't remember anything from it except for the intro. Please allow me to reproduce a small chunk of that here:
Kurt Vonnegut's Creative Writing 101:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every character must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
After this, Vonnegut talks about how his "one reader" is his sister Allie, who "is up in Heaven now." He then says this (which, if you have a sister, or even just a heart, will make you immediately tear up): "The boundaries to the playing fields of my short stories, and my novels, too, were once the boundaries of the soul of my only sister. She lives on that way."
Sob!
Kurt Vonnegut's Creative Writing 101:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every character must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
After this, Vonnegut talks about how his "one reader" is his sister Allie, who "is up in Heaven now." He then says this (which, if you have a sister, or even just a heart, will make you immediately tear up): "The boundaries to the playing fields of my short stories, and my novels, too, were once the boundaries of the soul of my only sister. She lives on that way."
Sob!
March 31, 2022
Two stars with a third for Vonnie being Vonnie. I feel like a chump anytime I talk about stars. I’ll stop now.
First chapter is best. In it Vonnie talks about time y place. That, TV wasn’t really big until the 60’s, and 69 is when TV finally became ubiquitous. Back when lit journals were a source of entertainment. Jr would get home from school, read a few stories, and when dad got home said, “you gotta read…” A different world. These are the stories when Vonnie was living as a freelance short story writer life. Soon the well dried up and Vonnie had to go to GM for bread and wrote sci-fy books nobody reviewed.
An uneven collections. Mostly bad impersonations of O. Henry. Two sci-fy. Mostly comedy. But then a dramatic story comes along like, “Moonlight,” and many tears did I shed. Regardless Vonnie’s formal qualities are strong. You can see him taking this Well made story and taking it into a spaceship.
Anybody else struggling to write Good Reads reviews?
First chapter is best. In it Vonnie talks about time y place. That, TV wasn’t really big until the 60’s, and 69 is when TV finally became ubiquitous. Back when lit journals were a source of entertainment. Jr would get home from school, read a few stories, and when dad got home said, “you gotta read…” A different world. These are the stories when Vonnie was living as a freelance short story writer life. Soon the well dried up and Vonnie had to go to GM for bread and wrote sci-fy books nobody reviewed.
An uneven collections. Mostly bad impersonations of O. Henry. Two sci-fy. Mostly comedy. But then a dramatic story comes along like, “Moonlight,” and many tears did I shed. Regardless Vonnie’s formal qualities are strong. You can see him taking this Well made story and taking it into a spaceship.
Anybody else struggling to write Good Reads reviews?
July 2, 2008
This book is a collection of some of Vonnegut's earliest short stories, written for weekly and monthly magazines. They're interesting as a perspective on this era, when "serious" literary authors, or at least burgeoning ones, wrote for magazines, as well as writing full-length novels. They're also an interesting look into Vonnegut's earliest writing style (although he admits in a postscript that he could not help editing the ending of many of the chapters). That being said, they're not as enjoyable as Vonnegut's books. His signature style (choppy sentences, conversational tone, a satire comprised of almost humourous yet mournful exasperation) has not really come into itself here. The purpose of these stories is also very different from his full-length books. They are meant to entertain (Vonnegut's introduction is instructive, I think, when he talks of the central tenets of writing that he taught in his creative writing course. One of these is that the audience should be able to expect what will happen next, because the plot is logical and the characters understandable. This concept was applied here, yielding stories whose endings could often be guessed at the very outset.). I think "2B402B" was the most indicative of Vonnegut's later style. However, Vonnegut does succeed at his primary objective here--entertaining. They are quick, enjoyable reads that are good for the subway commute.
July 22, 2020
I much preferred Vonnegut's other short story collection (Welcome to the Monkey House. This collection comprises his earliest fiction, when he was first learning how to tell stories and before he wrote the novels that made him famous. Missing from the stories are Vonnegut's overly cynical nature and his incredibly sarcastic delivery and humor (i.e., what made Vonnegut popular). I found this collection fascinating because it was like taking a peak into the author's early career and that gave me a sense of where he started off compared to where he ended up with classics like Slaughterhouse-Five, but unless you're a huge Vonnegut fan, as I am, I'd read his other stories and pass on this set.
March 12, 2008
This is a collection of short stories that are all kind of... well... boring except for one, which is absolutely incredible. That story is called 2BRO2B. This story is a crazy futuristic dystopian society that turns out so creepy it rocks! You could probably find this story without buying the whole book. It would be worth your time to skip the others. They are okay, but nothing special.
March 24, 2016
An interesting and varied - if at times a bit dry - collection of Vonnegut's stories, where he sets out to do his favourite thing; get the reader to reset their moral compass, take off the mask of pretension and find themselves.
As he describes himself, writing is the process of making one's soul grow and that aim comes through here.
As he describes himself, writing is the process of making one's soul grow and that aim comes through here.
October 23, 2015
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
A pioneering astronaut hears voices in outer space. Kurt Vonnegut reflects on mortality and the Cold War. Read by Kerry Shale.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqzb
A pioneering astronaut hears voices in outer space. Kurt Vonnegut reflects on mortality and the Cold War. Read by Kerry Shale.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqzb
December 23, 2013
Although this book was compiled in 1999, it contains the author’s early short stories, published in magazines in the 1950s and ’60s. It was not an easy or a fast book to read but it was powerful and it made an impression. I won’t re-read it; it didn’t give me much pleasure, which is why 4 stars instead of 5 stars, but I’ll remember it.
The stories are all about a small man in America. A couple stories have a scifi slant, but their speculative flavor is unimportant. The spotlight in all the stories is on a real man in the real postwar USA. No stories deal with a female protagonist, and most males on display are so life-like and pathetic, it hurts to read about them. Literary recognition is seldom pretty.
All the human foibles – greed, vanity, ambition, envy, misplaced loyalties – and all the vulnerabilities – loneliness, ignorance, shyness – are bared to the readers. There are no heroes or villains in this book but lots of silly men, misunderstood men, and presumptuous men. Some want to pay the world for ignoring them. Others are resigned to their fate, which is much, much smaller than they had dreamed about.
‘The shattered dreams of America’ could be a subtitle for this book, which includes stories sad and funny, tragic and twisted, but beyond all, believable. It could’ve been me (well, not me, I’m a woman). It could’ve been you or your cousin or your classmate. It’s about us.
And we are as different as the heroes of these stories. Some of them are extremely narrow-minded but come to realize and regret their own pettiness. Others are absorbed in their work to the detriment of the living people around them. Still others are making mistakes but not making connections. The theme of misunderstanding – between fathers and sons, wives and husbands, teachers and students – runs through the stories like a binding thread.
I made a conscious decision not to comment on any particular story, but I’d like to mention one character, a high school music teacher. He appears in three stories and he is probably the most likable of the protagonists in this book, at least for me. His passion for music is rich and rewarding, but his blindness to the human needs of his students is appalling. He is made of contradictions, like all the other characters in the book.
The introduction by the author is just as fascinating as the stories. In it, he talks about the origins of this collection, about his checkered life and literary career, and about the present times (1999) which was so different and so similar to the times he wrote about.
He writes about Ray Bradbury:
Vonnegut also gives here, in the introduction to this book, his famous 8 rules of writing fiction:
One critic called Vonnegut “the Mark Twain of our times.” I agree.
The stories are all about a small man in America. A couple stories have a scifi slant, but their speculative flavor is unimportant. The spotlight in all the stories is on a real man in the real postwar USA. No stories deal with a female protagonist, and most males on display are so life-like and pathetic, it hurts to read about them. Literary recognition is seldom pretty.
All the human foibles – greed, vanity, ambition, envy, misplaced loyalties – and all the vulnerabilities – loneliness, ignorance, shyness – are bared to the readers. There are no heroes or villains in this book but lots of silly men, misunderstood men, and presumptuous men. Some want to pay the world for ignoring them. Others are resigned to their fate, which is much, much smaller than they had dreamed about.
‘The shattered dreams of America’ could be a subtitle for this book, which includes stories sad and funny, tragic and twisted, but beyond all, believable. It could’ve been me (well, not me, I’m a woman). It could’ve been you or your cousin or your classmate. It’s about us.
And we are as different as the heroes of these stories. Some of them are extremely narrow-minded but come to realize and regret their own pettiness. Others are absorbed in their work to the detriment of the living people around them. Still others are making mistakes but not making connections. The theme of misunderstanding – between fathers and sons, wives and husbands, teachers and students – runs through the stories like a binding thread.
I made a conscious decision not to comment on any particular story, but I’d like to mention one character, a high school music teacher. He appears in three stories and he is probably the most likable of the protagonists in this book, at least for me. His passion for music is rich and rewarding, but his blindness to the human needs of his students is appalling. He is made of contradictions, like all the other characters in the book.
The introduction by the author is just as fascinating as the stories. In it, he talks about the origins of this collection, about his checkered life and literary career, and about the present times (1999) which was so different and so similar to the times he wrote about.
He writes about Ray Bradbury:
Fahrenheit 451 was published before we and most of our neighbors in Osterville owned TVs. Ray Bradbury himself may not have owned one. He still may not own one. To this day, Ray can’t drive a car and hates to ride in airplanes.What a pessimistic outlook at our lives. And so close to home, I want to curse.
In any case, Ray was sure as heck prescient. Just as people with dysfunctional kidneys are getting perfect ones from hospitals nowadays, Americans with dysfunctional social lives, like the woman in Ray’s book, are getting perfect friends and relatives from their TV sets. And around the clock!
Ray missed the boat about how many screens would be required for a successful people-transplant. One lousy little Sony can do the job, night and day. All it takes besides that is actors and actresses, telling the news, selling stuff, in soap operas or whatever, who treat whoever is watching, even if nobody is watching, like family.
“Hell is other people,” said Jean-Paul Sartre. “Hell is other real people,’ is what he should have said.
Vonnegut also gives here, in the introduction to this book, his famous 8 rules of writing fiction:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.He also admits that most good writers break most of his rules, except maybe the rule #1. This book didn’t break that rule.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
One critic called Vonnegut “the Mark Twain of our times.” I agree.
October 23, 2022
Even though I wasn't a fan of most of these stories, it's certainly not put me off from reading other Vonnegut books. My personal stand-outs were Powder Blue Dragon and the title story.
January 7, 2023
Hard not to fall in love with Vonnegut every time
May 1, 2012
Larry Santoro, a GoodReads author, gave this book as a Christmas present during the period when I and others would go to his home almost weekly to watch videos from his enormous movie collection. It is early Vonnegut and definitely not his best, but if you like the man as the writer he became, then it's probably worth reading.
August 24, 2014
Úžasné povídky od úžasného autora.
November 19, 2017
"My longtime friend and critic Professor Peter Reed, of the English Department at the University of Minnesota, made it his business to find these stories from my distant past. Otherwise, they might never have seen the light of day again. I myself hadn't saved one scrap of paper from that part of my life."
(Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in the Introduction to Bagombo Snuff Box.)
I am not sure that the collection of early short stories Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., one of my favorite authors, should have been published. I suspect that the publisher's eagerness to make a buck off the great author's name may be more to blame than Dr. Reed's zeal. Mr. Vonnegut himself seems to be aware of literary weakness of the stories: he writes in the Coda:
Most of the 23 stories collected here are completely unremarkable and instantly forgettable. They are overtly and overly didactic, aimed at readers with teenager-like worldview, and just plain sophomoric. The endings, clearly meant to be "surprising", are quite predictable. The weakest story, A Night for Love is trite and unbelievably syrupy. This Son of Mine aims at psychological depth yet what we receive is a maudlin, sentimental mess. And this mess comes from my beloved author of Slaughterhouse-Five !
Some stories in the set are a little better. Souvenir rings true as it is based on Mr. Vonnegut's experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany, yet it is marred by atrociously cheap ending. A Present for Big Saint Nick is partially redeemed by being just nasty enough at the end. The only story that I like is Der Arme Dolmetscher, again referring to the author's war experience, but maybe I like it just because of the phrase "Where are your howitzers?" (Vo zint eara pantzer shpitzen?), which reminds me of Monty Python's Hungarian Tobacconist's Sketch.
Dr. Reed points out two interesting aspects in his Preface: the stories feel quite dated because the women play secondary roles in all of them and the men are completely defined by jobs they have. Well, these observations are way more interesting than the stories themselves.
Also, to be clear, my one-star rating is relative: what merits one star for Mr. Vonnegut, would bring a much higher rating in the case of a less talented author. This set of stories ranks nowhere near even the weakest entries in Vonnegut's literary output, such as, say, Deadeye Dick or Mother Night . To compare it with the author's great books such as Bluebeard or Breakfast of Champions is absurd, not even mentioning his masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five .
One and a half stars.
(Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in the Introduction to Bagombo Snuff Box.)
I am not sure that the collection of early short stories Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., one of my favorite authors, should have been published. I suspect that the publisher's eagerness to make a buck off the great author's name may be more to blame than Dr. Reed's zeal. Mr. Vonnegut himself seems to be aware of literary weakness of the stories: he writes in the Coda:
"Rereading [some of the stories] so upset me, because the premise and the characters of each were so promising, and the denouement so asinine, that I virtually rewrote the denouement before I could stop myself."Further in the Coda the author is even more critical of these early stories that date back to the 1950s when they were published in such magazines as Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, Argosy, Redbook .
Most of the 23 stories collected here are completely unremarkable and instantly forgettable. They are overtly and overly didactic, aimed at readers with teenager-like worldview, and just plain sophomoric. The endings, clearly meant to be "surprising", are quite predictable. The weakest story, A Night for Love is trite and unbelievably syrupy. This Son of Mine aims at psychological depth yet what we receive is a maudlin, sentimental mess. And this mess comes from my beloved author of Slaughterhouse-Five !
Some stories in the set are a little better. Souvenir rings true as it is based on Mr. Vonnegut's experiences as a prisoner of war in Germany, yet it is marred by atrociously cheap ending. A Present for Big Saint Nick is partially redeemed by being just nasty enough at the end. The only story that I like is Der Arme Dolmetscher, again referring to the author's war experience, but maybe I like it just because of the phrase "Where are your howitzers?" (Vo zint eara pantzer shpitzen?), which reminds me of Monty Python's Hungarian Tobacconist's Sketch.
Dr. Reed points out two interesting aspects in his Preface: the stories feel quite dated because the women play secondary roles in all of them and the men are completely defined by jobs they have. Well, these observations are way more interesting than the stories themselves.
Also, to be clear, my one-star rating is relative: what merits one star for Mr. Vonnegut, would bring a much higher rating in the case of a less talented author. This set of stories ranks nowhere near even the weakest entries in Vonnegut's literary output, such as, say, Deadeye Dick or Mother Night . To compare it with the author's great books such as Bluebeard or Breakfast of Champions is absurd, not even mentioning his masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five .
One and a half stars.
September 30, 2018
Before I begin, let me say that Vonnegut is one of my favorite American novelists of the 20th century. GALAPAGOS holds a special place in my heart to this day. I AM A FAN.
This collection opens with a preface by the author wondering why anyone would want to amass his early works in one book. It's common for writers to semi-apologize for their earliest pieces. Sometimes this comes from a place of humility. Other times it's just the truth.
In this case, Vonnegut is telling the truth. Get two stories in and you can tell that he was in his writing infancy. Most of the stories were roughly written, trite, and/or moralistic. I actually rolled my eyes at the end of one.
That said, there were a handful of stories that I enjoyed, especially the first piece. (Gotta love ghosts in space.)
What kept me intrigued was having access to the ground floor of such a celebrated literary career. With hindsight on my side, I got to explore this collection with an eye for what would later become tell-tale Vonnegut styles, themes, and character quirks. I wouldn't recommend this book for entertainment as much as for insight into the writer Vonnegut would become. If nothing else, do it for the space ghosts.
This collection opens with a preface by the author wondering why anyone would want to amass his early works in one book. It's common for writers to semi-apologize for their earliest pieces. Sometimes this comes from a place of humility. Other times it's just the truth.
In this case, Vonnegut is telling the truth. Get two stories in and you can tell that he was in his writing infancy. Most of the stories were roughly written, trite, and/or moralistic. I actually rolled my eyes at the end of one.
That said, there were a handful of stories that I enjoyed, especially the first piece. (Gotta love ghosts in space.)
What kept me intrigued was having access to the ground floor of such a celebrated literary career. With hindsight on my side, I got to explore this collection with an eye for what would later become tell-tale Vonnegut styles, themes, and character quirks. I wouldn't recommend this book for entertainment as much as for insight into the writer Vonnegut would become. If nothing else, do it for the space ghosts.
June 21, 2020
This is a collection of 23 short stories published in 1999. It contains all of Vonnegut's stories which were originally published in US periodicals in the 50s and 60s, and were not already collected in the 1968 Welcome to the Monkey House.
One might think that this means they are second grade, and at least in some sense this is factually the case. The 1968 collection probably included the stories which the author (or the editor) thought were better. In fact Vonnegut himself felt the quality of three of these stories was inadequate, and he rewrote the ending. There is also always the question of how well a story ages, now that we are 70 years after some of these stories were told. Some did not age well at all, while some remain quite current.
Having said all that, I think this is a valuable collection in two ways. First, I'm sure people who are interested in the growth of an artist will find it quite revealing. Second, while some of the stories were barely readable, and as I said above, some did not age well, I'm sure almost every short-story lover will fine the one or two stories in this book that will speak to them personally, which shows the Vonnegut always knew his way around the human spirit. I rate it three stars out of five.
One might think that this means they are second grade, and at least in some sense this is factually the case. The 1968 collection probably included the stories which the author (or the editor) thought were better. In fact Vonnegut himself felt the quality of three of these stories was inadequate, and he rewrote the ending. There is also always the question of how well a story ages, now that we are 70 years after some of these stories were told. Some did not age well at all, while some remain quite current.
Having said all that, I think this is a valuable collection in two ways. First, I'm sure people who are interested in the growth of an artist will find it quite revealing. Second, while some of the stories were barely readable, and as I said above, some did not age well, I'm sure almost every short-story lover will fine the one or two stories in this book that will speak to them personally, which shows the Vonnegut always knew his way around the human spirit. I rate it three stars out of five.
March 25, 2019
A few of the stories in this collection are brilliant, such as "The Powder Blue Dragon," about a reckless youth with a fast car, or "Thanasphere," a sci-fi horror about a cloud in which ghosts communicate with the living. Most of the other stories at least had interesting parts, such as "A Present for Big Saint Nick" or "Souvenir." The short story is a very specific and difficult art to do well; still, more often than not, Vonnegut succeeds in creating something unique and entertaining. His dry-witty style resonates clearly with the 10-15 page style. I was disappointed with the author's note at the end of the collection, in which Vonnegut jokes about wishing Indiana could trade Gary for Akron, Ohio. I'm sort of bummed that he hated on the region. That being said, I would probably hate on the region too.
June 8, 2025
I'm glad that this book exists, but it's hard to rate. It collects many Vonnegut short stories, written for middle-brow magazines in the '50s and early '60s. The stories are mostly serviceable entertainment, on average noticeably less impressive than those collected in his '60s anthology Welcome to the Monkey House. The Bagombo stories weren't intended to be good art, and almost none of them are. The book's strength is in being a fascinating look into Vonnegut's early career, and the short story market, before the ubiquity of TV. Given these merits of the book, it's frustrating that Vonnegut-- in the 90s, before publishing this book-- heavily edited three of the stories. These stories no longer scratch the obsessive archivist itch, no longer answer the question, "What was Vonnegut up to when he was a scrappy, freelance, short story writer?" And the obsessive archivist is presumably a big part of the audience for a book like this. Still, again, I'm glad it exists. "A Present for Big Saint Nick," in particular, is a hilarious short story. Maybe the funniest Vonnegut I've ever read.
March 21, 2020
Thanasfera 5/5
Mnemonică 4/5
Un preț decent 3/5
Pachetul 5/5
Puștiul netalentat 4/5
Săracul orășel bogat 3/5
Suvenirul 2/5
Jolly Roger în croazieră 1/5
Mireasă la comandă 3.5/5
Elevul ambițios 2/5
Tabachera din Bagombo 4/5
Dragonul azuriu 4/5
Un cadou pentru Moș Nick cel Mare 1/5
Consultantul neplătit 2.5/5
Der Arme Dolmetscher 2/5
Băiatul care ura fetele 3/5
Din tată în fiu 3/5
O noapte pentru iubire 4/5
Fă-mi rost de un vis 5/5
Fugarii 3.5/5
AFIXANUFI 5/5
Îndrăgostiții anonimi 5/5
Lampa fermecată a lui Hal Irwin 4/5
Total: 3.41
--
Păcat de țara unde paguba pândește
Degeaba-i mult belșug, când omul putrezește.
(Versuri din poemul The Deserted Village, Satul părăsit de Oliver Goldsmith, publicat în 1770)
Jolly Roger = denumire dată steagului negru cu craniu și oase albe, folosit de pirați.
Rosie the Riveter = simbol cultural al Statelor Unite, reprezentând femeile americane care au lucrat în uzine, în timpul celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial, în mare parte în producția de armament. Simbol al feminismului și al puterii economice a femeilor.
Fost-a cândva un suflet dus, ce niciodată nu și-a spus, ăsta-i al meu iubit pământ!
(Fragment din poemul narativ Balada ultimului menestrel 1805 de Sir Walter Scott.)
Mnemonică 4/5
Un preț decent 3/5
Pachetul 5/5
Puștiul netalentat 4/5
Săracul orășel bogat 3/5
Suvenirul 2/5
Jolly Roger în croazieră 1/5
Mireasă la comandă 3.5/5
Elevul ambițios 2/5
Tabachera din Bagombo 4/5
Dragonul azuriu 4/5
Un cadou pentru Moș Nick cel Mare 1/5
Consultantul neplătit 2.5/5
Der Arme Dolmetscher 2/5
Băiatul care ura fetele 3/5
Din tată în fiu 3/5
O noapte pentru iubire 4/5
Fă-mi rost de un vis 5/5
Fugarii 3.5/5
AFIXANUFI 5/5
Îndrăgostiții anonimi 5/5
Lampa fermecată a lui Hal Irwin 4/5
Total: 3.41
--
Păcat de țara unde paguba pândește
Degeaba-i mult belșug, când omul putrezește.
(Versuri din poemul The Deserted Village, Satul părăsit de Oliver Goldsmith, publicat în 1770)
Jolly Roger = denumire dată steagului negru cu craniu și oase albe, folosit de pirați.
Rosie the Riveter = simbol cultural al Statelor Unite, reprezentând femeile americane care au lucrat în uzine, în timpul celui de-al Doilea Război Mondial, în mare parte în producția de armament. Simbol al feminismului și al puterii economice a femeilor.
Fost-a cândva un suflet dus, ce niciodată nu și-a spus, ăsta-i al meu iubit pământ!
(Fragment din poemul narativ Balada ultimului menestrel 1805 de Sir Walter Scott.)
March 31, 2023
Not bad but not great.
Maybe I expect too much out of Vonnegut. These stories were perfectly fine, if a bit dated. Most of these stories are full of bumbling but well meaning men, and women who are far smarter, but content with them. Pretty classic middle america middle century post war kind of vibe where they love cars and household amenities and watches. Can be hard to relate to, and these lack some of the absurdity that I usually love. There were several stories that deal with the increasing presence of women outside the household and it never goes in quite the way you might think.
All in all, not bad, pretty gentle and generally happy stories with a bit of philosophy.
Maybe I expect too much out of Vonnegut. These stories were perfectly fine, if a bit dated. Most of these stories are full of bumbling but well meaning men, and women who are far smarter, but content with them. Pretty classic middle america middle century post war kind of vibe where they love cars and household amenities and watches. Can be hard to relate to, and these lack some of the absurdity that I usually love. There were several stories that deal with the increasing presence of women outside the household and it never goes in quite the way you might think.
All in all, not bad, pretty gentle and generally happy stories with a bit of philosophy.
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