Pity the Reader, Kurt Vonnegut
Pity the Reader, Kurt Vonnegut
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Pity the Reader
On Writing With Style

Author: Kurt Vonnegut, Suzanne McConnell

Narrator: Karen White

Unabridged: 12 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/05/2019


Synopsis

The art and craft of writing by one of the few grandmasters of American literature, a bonanza for writers and readers written by Kurt Vonnegut's former student.

Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition. McConnell has outfitted us for the journey, and in these thirty-seven chapters covers the waterfront of how one American writer brought himself to the pinnacle of the writing art, and we can all benefit as a result.

Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of American literature, whose novels continue to influence new generations about the ways in which our imaginations can help us to live. Few aspects of his contribution have not been plumbed—fourteen novels, collections of his speeches, his essays, his letters, his plays—so this fresh view of him, written by a former student, is a bonanza for writers and readers and Vonnegut fans everywhere.

About Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut is the legendary author of dozens of books, including Timequake, Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse-Five, and, with Lee Stringer, Like Shaking Hands with God, which is available from Washington Square Press.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jason on January 04, 2020

This book is sincere and heartfelt, but that doesn't make it a worthwhile read. The unfortunate truth is that Vonnegut was pretty straightforward in his advice for writers. It doesn't take long to get that across - his exact words on the subject are in fact printed on the inside covers of the book!......more

Goodreads review by Dona's on July 18, 2022

"Sometimes I don’t consider myself very good at life, so I hide in my profession." p356 I know I can relate to this statement from Kurt Vonnegut, and I know many writers who also can. But the truth is, Vonnegut was intuitively brilliant "at life" -- he was insightful, empathetic, resolute. Again, I k......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on December 07, 2023

A posthumous Vonnegut publication that is part Kurt and all Suzanne McConnell. A graduate course in creative writing teeming with advice and examples from the man who rewrote the book on creative writing. Speaking of writing, consider this: when McConnell isn’t writing about writing she is writing a......more

Goodreads review by Jeanne on May 16, 2021

Published well after Kurt Vonnegut's death (in 2005), Pity the Reader was collected and collated by Suzanne McConnell, a former student from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, using considerable original material from Vonnegut's fiction, letters, and interviews. Pity the Reader is not a typical writing man......more

Goodreads review by Scott on March 21, 2021

This book is not what you think it will be. It's not Vonnegut's guide to writing. That substantive content is exhausted in the first few pages, and you can find it all in a two-page essay written by Vonnegut himself that is all over the internet. After that, all you'll find are paeans to the art of......more