I read Timequake (one of Vonnegut’s last books) recently and was surprised to see how often it related to the How to Win project. The novel isn’t about any one theme, but ideas of art and affecting change are woven throughout. Vonnegut seems to be reflecting on how his literature has connected with his politics.
In the novel, a timequake resets the universe 10 years, and humanity goes on autopilot, passively experiencing exactly what they had done the prior decade. When the timequake ends, no one realizes they have free will again, and in the initial moments the world becomes a violent orgy of bus crashes, explosions, and fire. Eighty-something-year-old, homeless writer Kilgore Trout–Vonnegut’s alter ego– is the only one who realizes what’s happened and begins running around trying to wake up everyone. Rather than try to explain that they have free will again, Trout exclaims, “You were sick, but now you’re well, and there’s work to do.” This white lie works, and the meme spreads, eventually helping everyone regain consciousness. Trout undertakes this mission, though, not as some bold hero, but because he is too old to do anything daring himself, and so needs others to put out the fires he is incapable of stopping.
The story, I think, is Vonnegut explaining his own work. Ever since Slaughterhouse 5 he was a hero of peace movements, and a symbol of Humanism. He was deified by some, or at least revered as a prophet. With this novel, I think he was explaining that he wasn’t a hero or a savior, just a man who saw a world engulfed in craziness, had a talent for writing, and so used it to try and awaken humanity’s consciousness. He loved art and respected the artist’s power to awaken and inspire, but he also understood that mail clerks, carpenters, chemists had just as much to offer the world.
With all this in mind, I assembled a handful of relevant quotes from Timequake, and a mash up of Vonnegut interviews addressing, art, politics, and living humanely.
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