Palm Sunday (book)

Last updated
Palm Sunday
PalmSunday.JPG
First edition cover
Author Kurt Vonnegut
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Delacorte Press
Publication date
1981
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages330
ISBN 0-440-06593-3

Palm Sunday is a 1981 collection of short stories, speeches, essays, letters, and other previously unpublished works by Kurt Vonnegut. [1] The collection provides insight into Vonnegut's thoughts on various subjects, including writing, war, and his own literary career. The book is known for its eclectic mix of genres and personal reflections.

Contents

Overview

Palm Sunday is a self-described "autobiographical collage" that showcases Vonnegut's versatility as a writer. It contains a mix of fiction and non-fiction, including short stories, speeches, essays, letters, and a sermon. The collection is notable for its exploration of themes such as free thought, war, and the role of the writer in society. Vonnegut also reflects on his own works and grades them based on his personal assessment.

Contents

The collection includes the following pieces, written by Vonnegut unless otherwise noted:

Grades

In Chapter 18, titled "The Sexual Revolution," Vonnegut grades his own works, emphasizing that the grades are a personal comparison rather than a placement in literary history. The grades are as follows:

Reception

Palm Sunday was well-received for its candid and varied content, offering readers a unique insight into Vonnegut's mind and his views on literature, society, and his personal experiences. The collection has been praised for its humor, wit, and the seamless blending of different literary forms. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Vonnegut</span> American author (1922–2007)

Kurt Vonnegut was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. He published 14 novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further collections have been published since his death.

<i>Slaughterhouse-Five</i> 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the post-war years. Throughout the novel, Billy frequently travels back and forth through time. The protagonist deals with a temporal crisis as a result of his post-war psychological trauma. The text centers on Billy's capture by the German Army and his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience that Vonnegut endured as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of "unmatched moral clarity" and "one of the most enduring anti-war novels of all time".

"Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical dystopian science-fiction short story by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in October 1961. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the story was republished in the author's Welcome to the Monkey House collection in 1968.

<i>Breakfast of Champions</i> 1973 American novel by Kurt Vonnegut

Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. His seventh novel, it is set predominantly in the fictional town of Midland City, Ohio, and focuses on two characters: Dwayne Hoover, a Midland resident, Pontiac dealer and affluent figure in the city, and Kilgore Trout, a widely published but mostly unknown science fiction author. Breakfast of Champions deals with themes of free will, suicide, and race relations, among others. The novel is full of drawings by the author, substituting descriptive language with depictions requiring no translation.

Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007). Trout is a notably unsuccessful author of paperback science fiction novels.

<i>Jailbird</i> (novel) 1979 novel by Kurt Vonnegut

Jailbird is a novel by American author Kurt Vonnegut, published in 1979 by Delacorte Press. The novel is often described as Vonnegut's "Watergate novel," as it explores themes related to the Watergate scandal, the American labor movement, and the political landscape of the United States during the mid-20th century.

<i>Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons</i> 1974 collection of essays by Kurt Vonnegut

Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (Opinions) is a collection of essays, reviews, short travel accounts, and human interest stories written by Kurt Vonnegut from c. 1966–1974.

<i>Death on Credit</i> 1936 novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Death on Credit is a novel by author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, published in 1936. The most common, and generally most respected English translation is Ralph Manheim's.

<i>Fates Worse Than Death</i> 1991 collection of writings by author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Fates Worse than Death, subtitled An Autobiographical Collage of the 1980s, is a 1991 collection of essays, speeches, and other previously uncollected writings by author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. In the introduction to the book, Vonnegut acknowledges that the book is similar to an earlier book, Palm Sunday. In it he discusses his attempted suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Miller (theologian)</span>

Samuel Miller was a Presbyterian theologian who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary.

<i>Armageddon in Retrospect</i> 2008 collection of short stories and essays by Kurt Vonnegut

Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of short stories and essays about war and peace written by Kurt Vonnegut. It is the first posthumous collection of his previously unpublished writings. The book includes an introduction by Mark Vonnegut, a letter from Kurt to his family about his experiences as an American prisoner of war in Nazi Germany, and the fire-bombing of Dresden. Like many of Vonnegut's other books, Armageddon in Retrospect is laden with handwritten quotations and rough drawings by the author.

The consolatio or consolatory oration is a type of ceremonial oratory, typically used rhetorically to comfort mourners at funerals. It was one of the most popular classical rhetoric topics, and received new impetus under Renaissance humanism.

Dan Wakefield was an American novelist, journalist, and screenwriter.

<i>The Moronic Inferno</i>

The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America (1986) is a collection of non-fiction essays on the subject of America, by the British novelist Martin Amis.

Loree Rackstraw was an American literary critic and memoirist. She taught English at the University of Northern Iowa from 1966 to 1996, and she was the author of Love As Always, Kurt: Vonnegut As I Knew Him (2009).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library</span> Biographical museum in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library is dedicated to championing the literary, artistic, and cultural contributions of the late writer, artist, and Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. It opened in January 2011 and was located in The Emelie, a structure on the National Register of Historic Places at 340 North Senate Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana, until January 2019. Funding for a new building at 543 Indiana Avenue was secured, and the library reopened to the public on November 9, 2019.

Robert T. Tally Jr. is a professor of English at Texas State University. His research and teaching focuses on the relations among space, narrative, and representation, particularly in U.S. and comparative literature, and he is active in the emerging scholarly fields of geocriticism, literary geography, and the spatial humanities. Tally is the editor of "Geocriticism and Spatial Literary Studies," a Palgrave Macmillan book series established in 2013. The translator of Bertrand Westphal's Geocriticism: Real and Fictional Spaces and the editor of Geocritical Explorations, In addition to his numerous essays on literature, criticism, and theory, Tally has written books on Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, as well as a critical introduction to the work of literary critic and theorist Fredric Jameson.

<i>If This Isnt Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young</i> Collection of nine commencement speeches from Kurt Vonnegut.

If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young is a 2013 collection of nine commencement speeches from Kurt Vonnegut, selected and introduced by longtime friend and author Dan Wakefield.

<i>Kurt Vonnegut: Letters</i> Book

Kurt Vonnegut: Letters is a collection of letters written by American author Kurt Vonnegut, edited by his friend and fellow writer Dan Wakefield. Published by Delacorte Press on October 30, 2012, the book compiles a wide range of Vonnegut's correspondence spanning his entire life, offering insight into his personal thoughts, relationships, and the development of his literary career.

Vonnegut by the Dozen: Twelve Pieces by Kurt Vonnegut is a collection of twelve essays written by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. The essays were originally published in The Nation magazine between 1978 and 1998 and compiled into an eBook published by The Nation in 2013. The collection was edited by Richard Lingeman.

References