Remembering an “effervescently affable man”: Kurt Vonnegut at 100

John Self considers a writer who is much admired and even more loved but who is now most celebrated for the wrong novel

MANY WRITERS INSPIRE ADMIRATION; FAR FEWER INSPIRE LOVE. Kurt Vonnegut, who was born 100 years ago this month, was one of those few. Read the critical commentary on his output of 14 novels, clutches of essays, oodles of short stories and plays, and there is the expected praise for his style and approach. “A beautifully fastidious writer, utterly original,” said the hard-to-please James Wood. “Vonnegut looked the world straight in the eye and never flinched,” wrote J.G. Ballard, who should know. But there is something else besides: an element of personal affection for a man they never met. “I feel privileged to have spent several hours in the company of a most genial, affable and upbeat soul indeed,” wrote the novelist Nicholas Royle. One of this year’s Booker Prize shortlisted…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2022

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