"Vonnegut's major apocalyptic trio-Cat's Cradle, Slapstick, and Galâapagos-prompt broad global, national, and species-level thinking about environmental issues through dramatic and fantastic scenarios. This book, Lucky Mud and Other Foma, tells the story of the origins and legacy of what Kurt Vonnegut understood as "planetary citizenship" and explores key roots, influences, literary techniques, and artistic expressions of his interest in environmental activism through his writing. Vonnegut saw writing itself as an act of good citizenship, as a way of "poisoning" the minds of young people "with humanity . . . to encourage them to make a better world." Often that literary activism meant addressing real social and environmental problems-polluted water, soil, and air; racial and economic injustice; isolating and dehumanizing technologies; and lives and landscapes desolated by war. Vonnegut's remedies took many forms, from the redemptive power of the arts to artificial extended families to vital communities and engaged democracies. Reminding us of our shared connections as humans, as Earthlings, as stardust, Lucky Mud helps fans, scholars, and book lovers of all kinds experience how Vonnegut's writings purposely challenge readers to think, create, and love"--
Inhaltsverzeichnis
List of Abbreviations
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Tilting the Axis
I. Foundations
1. Becoming a Planetary Citizen
2. Views from Titan, Tralfamadore, and the Blue Tunnel: Writing for a “salubrious blue-green orb”
II. Place
3. A Hoosier’s Symphony of Place: From Fresh Water to Salt Water to Quartz Porcupine Quills
4. Apocalyptic Landscapes: Cat’s Cradle, Slapstick, and Galapágos
5. Midland City: Asphalt Prairies, Drug Stores, and Racism at Breakfast Time
III. Humanity and Technology
6. M-17 Houses, EPICAC, Jenny, and Wolfgang
7. What Are People For?: Communities, Pacifism, and Secular Humanism
Epilogue: Vox Humana—Make Kurt Live!
Notes
Appendix: Timeline of Vonnegut’s Planetary Citizenship
Acknowledgements
Selected Bibliography
Index
