"But about my Uncle Alex, who is up in Heaven now," Vonnegut, an avowed Humanist, would say sometimes in a graduation speech, "one of the things he found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when they were happy. . . . We could be drinking lemonade in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, 'If this isn't nice, what is?'" If This Isn't Nice, What Is? includes eleven speeches and four pieces of journalism on related themes. Six of the fifteen are new to the second edition--on topics as wide-ranging as why it is that Kurt Vonnegut's dog loves people more than Kurt Vonnegut does, and what it feels like to be the most censored writer in America--and much, much more. In each of these talks and short essays, Vonnegut takes pains to find the few things worth saying and a conversational voice to say them in that's funny and serious and joyful even if sometimes without seeming so.
The Graduation Speeches and Other Words to Live By
Hardback
Publication Date: 18/07/2016
Best known as one of America's most astonishing and enduring contemporary novelists, Kurt Vonnegut was also a celebrated commencement address giver. Vonnegut never graduated from college, so his words to any class of graduating seniors always carried the delight, and gentle irony, of someone savoring an achievement he himself had not had occasion to savor on his own behalf.
"But about my Uncle Alex, who is up in Heaven now," Vonnegut, an avowed Humanist, would say sometimes in a graduation speech, "one of the things he found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when they were happy. . . . We could be drinking lemonade in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, 'If this isn't nice, what is?'" If This Isn't Nice, What Is? includes eleven speeches and four pieces of journalism on related themes. Six of the fifteen are new to the second edition--on topics as wide-ranging as why it is that Kurt Vonnegut's dog loves people more than Kurt Vonnegut does, and what it feels like to be the most censored writer in America--and much, much more. In each of these talks and short essays, Vonnegut takes pains to find the few things worth saying and a conversational voice to say them in that's funny and serious and joyful even if sometimes without seeming so.
"But about my Uncle Alex, who is up in Heaven now," Vonnegut, an avowed Humanist, would say sometimes in a graduation speech, "one of the things he found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when they were happy. . . . We could be drinking lemonade in the summertime, and Uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, 'If this isn't nice, what is?'" If This Isn't Nice, What Is? includes eleven speeches and four pieces of journalism on related themes. Six of the fifteen are new to the second edition--on topics as wide-ranging as why it is that Kurt Vonnegut's dog loves people more than Kurt Vonnegut does, and what it feels like to be the most censored writer in America--and much, much more. In each of these talks and short essays, Vonnegut takes pains to find the few things worth saying and a conversational voice to say them in that's funny and serious and joyful even if sometimes without seeming so.
- ISBN:
- 9781609806972
- 9781609806972
- Category:
- Assertiveness
- Format:
- Hardback
- Publication Date:
- 18-07-2016
- Language:
- English
- Publisher:
- Seven Stories Press
- Country of origin:
- United States
- Dimensions (mm):
- 210.31x151.38x20.32mm
- Weight:
- 0.37kg
Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available
Great!
Click on Save to My Library / Lists
Click on Save to My Library / Lists
Select the List you'd like to categorise as, or add your own
Here you can mark if you have read this book, reading it or want to read
Awesome! You added your first item into your Library
Great! The fun begins.
Click on My Library / My Lists and I will take you there
Click on My Library / My Lists and I will take you there
You can find this item in:
Literary essays
Speeches
Literature: history & criticism
Self-help & personal development
Assertiveness
Prose: non-fiction
Show more
Show less
Reviews
Be the first to review If This Isn't Nice.
Share This Book: