Kurt Vonnegut in 1990 (Photo by Don Cochrane) During his lifetime, Kurt Vonnegut always felt unappreciated -- much like his fictional alter-ego, Kilgore Trout in "Breakfast of Champions." The literary establishment may have looked down its nose at him, but Vonnegut's fans in the counterculture considered him a prophet and visionary, a humanist who used his absurdist novels and stories to try to make sense of a universe that seemed random and absurd. Born on November 11, 1922, Vonnegut's life was indeed full of randomness and absurdity. His mother committed suicide on Mother's Day, 1944. Some years later, within days of each other, his brother-in-law was killed in a horrific train accident and his sister Alice died of cancer. During World War II, he was held as a P.O.W. in a slaughterhouse during the Dresden firestorm, an experience that he worked into his celebrated novel "Slaughterhouse Five." After the war, he worked in a string of odd professions that included managing the first Saab dealership in the United States. In a graphic sense, Vonnegut's life was his work. In such novels as "Cat's Cradle," "Mother Night," and the short story collection, "Welcome to the Monkey House," Vonnegut explored the way humans retain their humanity even in the face of uncontrollable and catastrophic events. His concerns -- dehumanizing technology, the need for connection under mindless bureaucracy and violence -- mark him as one of the 20th century's great humanist writers. Suggested Sites... Vonnegut.com - official site, dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut's life, works, and philosophy. Kurt Vonnegut Quotes - quotes by Vonnegut from his writings and interviews. The Vonnegut Web - critical bibliography and an in-depth summary of Vonnegut's life. Vonnegut Art Works - drawings and paintings by Kurt Vonnegut

Directory categories: Kurt Vonnegut, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing, 20th Century People, World War II Prisoners of War, Humanism

Archived under: Authors, Biographies, Birthdays, Counterculture, Fiction, Literature, Science Fiction, Writers, Writing

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Ross in his prime. You wouldn't think a guy with hair like that would be such a cultural icon. In the 1920s, only one American city was the center of art and commerce: New York. And in that city, only one magazine kept track of it all: "The New Yorker." And in that magazine, only one person mattered: founder and editor Harold Ross. Ross was born November 6, 1892, in Aspen, Colorado, and soon developed printer's ink in his blood. By 13, he had dropped out of school to work at the Denver Post, and by 25 he had worked for six other newspapers, from San Francisco to Atlanta. During World War I, Ross' talents got him a job in Paris, editing the Army newspaper, "Stars and Stripes." His fellow staff members included drama critic Alexander Woollcott and New York columnist Franklin P. Adams -- both of whom would go on to play roles in Ross' plans. After the war, he settled in Manhattan, where he worked on those plans -- to create a weekly magazine that would analyze, comment on, and play a role in the cultural life of the city. It would not, Ross insisted, be a magazine for "the old lady in Dubuque." It would be sophisticated and urbane -- but not snobby. It had standards, but if a reader was witty or informed enough, he or she would be a member of the club. In the depths of the winter of 1925, the first issue of "The New Yorker" rolled off the presses. Despite some glitches, such as a joke ("Pop: A man who thinks he can make it in par. Johnny: What's an optimist, Pop?") that ran with the set-up and punchline reversed -- a error reprinted in every anniversary issue for years -- the magazine was an instant hit. In the decades since, it has come to be considered the gold standard of American magazines. That respect is due almost entirely to Ross. He personally edited virtually every word that appeared in every issue until his death in 1951, and, despite his own poor spelling, his meticulousness for precise grammar, clarity, and good writing attracted such notables as Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, Ernest Hemingway, John Hersey, Ann Beattie, John Cheever, Roald Dahl, Alice Munro, John O'Hara, Philip Roth, J.D. Salinger, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Irwin Shaw, Woody Allen, James Thurber, E.B. White (whose own prose style was crucial in setting the magazine’s voice and tone), and even Marlon Brando. But the literary aspect of "The New Yorker" was only part of the package. Each issue was filled with cartoons by artists like Charles Addams, Peter Arno, George Booth, Roz Chast, George Price, Saul Steinberg, William Steig, and Thurber again. So good were (and are) the cartoons, that many readers never get past them and are still satisfied they got their money’s worth. Despite Woollcott describing him as looking like "a dishonest Abe Lincoln," Ross' contributions to the culture of Manhattan and America are impossible to calculate. His sensibilities shaped the ways plays were written, movies received, and books were published, and it's almost impossible to imagine American -- and world -- culture without him. Suggested Sites... Wikipedia: Harold Ross - overview of Ross' life and career. The New Yorker - bringing the world to New York -- and vice versa -- since 1925. The New Yorker Cartoon Bank - pretty near every cartoon ever seen in the magazine, yours for the asking. Harold Wallace Ross - biography of The New Yorker's founder. Harold Ross: The History - the BBC takes a look at Ross and his magazine.

Directory categories: Harold Ross, The New Yorker, E.B. White, Magazines, Manhattan

Archived under: 1920s, Authors, Biographies, Birthdays, Cartoons, Journalism, Literature, Magazines, Media, New York, Society and Culture, The New Yorker

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Writers hold a "midnight write" to kick off NaNoWriMo. (Photo by Megan Myers) Writers, boot up your laptops! November is National Novel Writing Month, or "NaNoWriMo" to the initiated. The idea is that with the right combination of drive and discipline, anyone can crank out a 175-page novel over the course of a month. A group of writers in San Francisco organized the first NoWriMo in 1999, and since then the event has snowballed into a national (if niche) phenomenon. Interestingly, the project isn’t for pen and paper. To be an official participant, you have to submit your manuscript electronically in order to have the length verified by word-count software. It should be noted that people were keeping tabs on words long before machines made it easy to do so. Ernest Hemingway famously wrote 500 words a day. This marathon of writing events begs the question: Can you really write a good novel in 30 days? Well, it doesn't have to be Proust; it just has to be 50,000 words. The event organizers are the first to admit that writing done in this manner isn't the stuff of masterpieces. They say -- and I quote -- "You will be writing a lot of crap." To them, it's more about the process. And like the marathon, not everyone finishes. According to the site, last year 120,000 participants signed on at the beginning of the month, but only 20,000 people completed their pieces by midnight on November 30, the official deadline. Suggested Sites... National Novel Writing Month - the official site of the event's organizers. Word Count Tool - start generating your official word count with an online tool. National Novel Writing Month for Homeschoolers - learn how to incorporate National Novel Writing Month into homeschooling lessons. About.com: How to Organize a NaNoWriMo Write-In - tips on how to mobilize a writing group for the big event. Essortment's Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block - offers a few exercises to help your creative juices flow.

Directory categories: Literature, Creative Writing, Literature Events, Authors, San Francisco

Archived under: Arts, Authors, Books, Events, Fanatics, Literature, San Francisco, Writing

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If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled. Humility is rarely a virtue associated with notable artists (Kayne West take note), but P. G. Wodehouse was not a man to let his many successes give him delusions of grandeur. When the gritty socialist Irish dramatist Sean O'Casey bestowed the "performing flea" moniker on Wodehouse, he took it remarkably in his stride. While many would have considered the label an insult, a damning indictment on a literary career that spanned almost 80 years and at least five different genres, Wodehouse chose instead to adopt the slur as the title for a collection of letters to a friend he was later to publish. Wodehouse acknowledged that he "went in for light writing" and that consequently he was "sneered at and looked down on by the intelligentsia." But when you can count amongst your fans such modern literary bigwigs as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Terry Pratchett, then you must have been doing something right. Nowadays perhaps most of us remember Wodehouse for his tales of Jeeves and Wooster, the hilarious accounts of a dim-witted self-indulgent toff who is continually rescued and extricated from an abundance of social blunders by his sage and worldly -- but crucially also socially inferior -- butler. The characters were joyously brought to screen by ex-Cambridge Univeristy Footlights duo Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. (Note to all readers that enjoy Mr. Laurie as the curmudgeonly House but have not seen his irrepressible performances in Jeeves & Wooster, then please do so... immediately.) Perversely, it appears that the vehicle that brought his work into the lives and hearts of many (the aforementioned TV adaptation), is not something that Wodehouse himself would have approved of. I would, however, be presumptuous enough to assume that he would have relished the irony. You see, Wodehouse was a theatre man who had little interest in movies and television, much less seeing his works adapted for the media. Of course, there were offers for syndication, and lucrative ones at that: television, theatre, comic strips, and even advertising. But Wodehouse knew that Jeeves' place was between the pages of a book. So how did he handle the offers to crowbar his characters into any and all media vehicles? A huge thespian hissy fit? Of course not. In his own words: "It only needed Jeeves' deprecating cough and his murmured 'I would scarcely advocate it, sir.'" Suggested Sites... P.G. Wodehouse at Project Gutenberg - a selected archive of the man's work. The Wodehouse Society - what I suspect would today be called "The Official Fanclub." P.G. Wodehouse Books - your complete guide to P.G. Wodehouse. Biblia Wodehousiana - The Wodehouse Bible.

Directory categories: Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Yahoo! Groups about P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and Wooster TV Show, Authors, Literature

Archived under: Authors, Books, England, Fiction, Literature, P.G. Wodehouse, TV

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This might be satisfying, but it wouldn't exactly be polite. Violators beware! (Photo by Mark Wallace) Once upon a time, the term "etiquette" referred to knowing which fork one used at the dinner table (the one on the outside), or which side of the sidewalk a gentleman should walk on when escorting a young lady (the side closest to the curb). Lately, etiquette's become something of a dirty word, though. At best, it evokes a nostalgic sentiment for the "good old days;" at worst, a general disdain for a kind of archaic protocol that seems to have no place in the modern world. And while it's true that, nowadays, few people outside of historical reenactment societies need to know the proper way to leave a calling card, the art of civility and good manners is not yet obsolete. Consider the Internet troll who launches a flame war on your comments page. What's the proper way to tell them to mind their own beeswax without making yourself look like a fool? Then there's the sticky situation of how to politely deny your diabetic relative's request for marijuana. Not to mention the ever-important question of how to convey to the woman you've just walked into your apartment building after a date that you're not a rapist. No, this isn't Amy Vanderbilt's or Emily Post's brand of etiquette (even though Miss Vanderbilt’s “Book of Etiquette” was published on this date in 1952). But even in a post-Lewinsky world, it seems we still have some need for decorum (as so aptly demonstrated by the formal rebuke of Republican Representative Joe Wilson after his "You lie!" remark during President Obama's address to the Congress on health care). So turn off your cell phone when attending the theater, don't text while at the movies (we can still see the glow of the screen even if the ringer’s off), turn your radio down at the drive-thru, and send your thank you cards via e-mail  -- just make sure to claim it's in the name of saving the environment, and not because you're too lazy to buy a card, write a message, find a stamp, lick the envelope, and send it. Suggested Sites... Emily Post’s Etiquette Daily - http://www.etiquettedaily.com/ The Urban Etiquette Handbook - the answers to all your modern conundrums -- like who walks the bride down the aisle when there are two of them. Dear Prudence - Slate's advice column on manners and morals. The Core Rules of Netiquette - how to deal with forwards, flaming, and the dreaded caps lock key. Modern Manners Guy - podcast about modern manners issues.

Directory categories: Etiquette, Netiquette, Cell Phone Etiquette, Emily Post, Wedding Etiquette

Archived under: 1950s, Anniversaries, Authors, Books, Eating, Etiquette, Society and Culture, Telephones, Writers, dating

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