God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

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From Slapstick's "Turkey Farm" to Slaughterhouse-Five's eternity in a Tralfamadorean zoo cage with Montana Wildhack, the question of the afterlife never left Kurt Vonnegut's mind. In God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, Vonnegut skips back and forth between life and the Afterlife as if the difference between them were rather slight. In thirty odd "interviews," Vonnegut trips down "the blue tunnel to the pearly gates" in the guise of a roving reporter for public radio, conducting interviews: with Salvatore Biagini, a retired construction worker who died of a heart attack while rescuing his schnauzer from a pit bull, with John Brown, still smoldering 140 years after his death by hanging, with William Shakespeare, who rubs Vonnegut the wrong way, and with socialist and labor leader Eugene Victor Debs, one of Vonnegut's personal heroes.
What began as a series of ninety-second radio interludes for WNYC, New York City's public radio station, evolved into this provocative collection of musings about who and what we live for, and how much it all matters in the end. From the original portrait by his friend Jules Feiffer that graces the cover, to a final entry from Kilgore Trout, God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian remains a joy.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1999

This edition

Format
80 pages, Paperback
Published
May 22, 2001 by Washington Square Press
ISBN
9780743422000
ASIN
0743422007
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Kilgore Trout

    Kilgore Trout

    Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut. He was originally created as a fictionalized version of author Theodore Sturgeon (Vonneguts colleague in the genre of science fiction), although Trouts consistent presence...

  • Isaac Asimov

    Isaac Asimov

    An American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and...

  • Eugene V. Debs

    Eugene V. Debs

    Eugene Victor Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and several times the candidate of the Social Democratic Par...

  • Isaac Newton

    Isaac Newton

    An English physicist and mathematician who is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural...

  • John Brown

    John Brown

    John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was a revolutionary abolitionist in the United States, who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery for good. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed in...

  • William Blake

    William Blake

    William Blake (1757 - 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has be...

About the author

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Kurt Vonnegut, Junior was an American novelist, satirist, and most recently, graphic artist. He was recognized as New York State Author for 2001-2003.

He was born in Indianapolis, later the setting for many of his novels. He attended Cornell University from 1941 to 1943, where he wrote a column for the student newspaper, the Cornell Daily Sun. Vonnegut trained as a chemist and worked as a journalist before joining the U.S. Army and serving in World War II.

After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.

His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five, the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.

Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973)

Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 99 votes)
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99 reviews All reviews
April 17,2025
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Kurt Vonnegut aiutato dal Dottor Kevorkian intervista alcune persone morte, famose o meno. Format nato per la radio, ne vengono fuori delle brevissime interviste ironiche e divertenti a modo suo.
April 17,2025
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Mezar taşıma ne mi yazılsın?
"Her şey güzeldi. Hiçbir şey canımı yakmadı."
O sırada olan biten ne zıkkım varsa hepsinden paçayı sıyırmış olacağım sonuçta.


nE-
Tanıdığım en değişik yazarlardan birisin net.
April 17,2025
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ضمن توصیه به خوندن مرور فهیمه که روی همین نسخه مرور گذاشته باید بگم که
:
اگه نخواهید این کتاب رو با شاهکارهای ونه‌گات مثل، سلاخ‌خانه و گهواره گربه مقایسه کنید کتاب کتاب خوبی هست. باز هم همون طنازی دوس‌داشتنی ونه‌گات رو داریم با یه ایده‌ی معرکه که البته کاش بیشتر بسطش می‌داد. اما باز هم میشه تو کتاب کلی تیکه‌ی باحال و بچسب به حال و روز آدم‌های این دوران پیدا کرد. آدم‌هایی که لزوما قرار نیست مردم آمریکا باشند
.
این کتاب کم حجم رو توصیه می‌کنم به همه‌ی دوس‌داران طنز ونه‌گاتی

(یک توضیح شاید غیرضروری: برای پیدا کردن مرورهای مربوط به هر نسخه‌ی کتاب، مثلا نسخه‌ی عربی، انگلیسی، ترکی یا فارسی اول صفحه‌ی مربوط به اون نسخه رو باز کنید و بعد در قسمت بالای مرورها ضمن نگه داشتن ماوس روی گزینه‌ی فیلتر گزینه‌ی دیس ادیشن رو انتخاب کنید تا مرورهای مربوط به اون نسخه ظاهر بشن
(
April 17,2025
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God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, Kurt Vonnegut
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a collection of short fictional interviews written by Vonnegut. The title parodies that of Vonnegut's 1965 novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. It was published in book form in 1999. The premise of the collection is that Vonnegut employs Dr. Jack Kevorkian to give him near-death experiences, allowing Vonnegut access to heaven and those in it for a limited time. While in the afterlife Vonnegut interviews a range of people including: Adolf Hitler, William Shakespeare, Isaac Asimov, and the ever-present Kilgore Trout (a fictional character created by Vonnegut in his earlier works).
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه دسامبر سال 2012 میلادی
عنوان: خدا حفظ‌تان کند دکتر که‌وارکیان؛ نویسنده: کورت ونه گات؛ مترجم: مصطفی رضیئی؛ مشخصات نشر: تهران، افراز، 1389، در 96 ص، شابک: 9789642432301؛ موضوع: مصاحبه های خیالی از نویسندگان امریکا - سده 20 م
یادداشت‌ها شامل مصاحبهٔ «کورت وانگات» در نقش خبرنگار ایستگاه رادیویی وی.ان.وای.سی است، که به یاری دوستش دکتر کوارکیان در سالن مرگ با استفاده از تجربه ی کنترل شده ی مرگ به دم در بهشت رفته، تا با شخصیت‌های مختلفی از جمله: ویلیام شکسپیر، آدولف هیتلر، اسحاق نیوتن، و کیلگور تراوت (شخصیت تخیلی داستان‌های وانگات) گفتگویی انجام دهد. ا. شربیانی
April 17,2025
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“I miei libri sono mosaici fatti di tante piccole tessere, e ogni tessera è una burla” (Kurt Vonnegut, pagina 5).

Questa di Vonnegut è una raccolta di brevi testi scritti per una rubrica radiofonica in cui l'autore immagina di prestarsi a delle sedute di morte temporanea, improvvisandosi, con l'aiuto del dottor Jack Kevorkian, famoso medico statunitense, promotore dell'eutanasia volontaria e sostenitore del suicidio assistito dei malati terminali, ad “inviato speciale nell'aldilà”. Il format di questi brevissimi testi, già di per sé spassoso ed originale, è, infatti, quello delle “interviste impossibili” a personaggi più o meno celebri, scomparsi più o meno recentemente.

Nel carcere di Huntsville, Texas, nell'edificio adibito all'esecuzione delle iniezioni letali ai condannati a morte, avvengono le esperienze di pre-morte di Vonnegut, dei veri e propri viaggi di andata e ritorno per il Paradiso (l'Inferno, si viene a scoprire, non esiste). Il celebre scrittore può così conoscere San Pietro in persona, ed intervistare ad ogni sua toccata e fuga un (più o meno) famoso ospite dell'aldilà, riportandoci a noi vivi le sue parole: ventuno interviste immaginarie a scrittori, scienziati, personaggi realmente vissuti, donne e uomini, tutti a loro modo straordinari (non sempre con accezione positiva), spesso anche semplicemente nella loro quotidianità. Da Mary D. Ainsworth a Salvatore Biagini, da Birnum Birnum a John Brown, da Roberta Gorsuch Burke a Clarence Darrow, da Eugene Victor Debs a Harold Epstein, da Vivian Hallinan ad Adolf Hitler, da John Wesley Joyce a Frances Keane, da Isaac Newton a Peter Pellegrino, da James Earl Ray a William Shakespeare, da Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley a Philip Strax, da Karla Faye Tucker all'amico e collega Isaac Asimov. Un campionario variegato e ben rappresentativo dell'umanità. Fino all'intervista ad un personaggio ancora vivo: lo scrittore Kilgore Trout, alter ego fittizio dello stesso Vonnegut, onnipresente nelle sue opere.

Tra le interviste più riuscite, segnalo quella a William Shakespeare:

“Mi sono congratulato con lui per tutti gli Oscar che aveva vinto il film Shakespeare in Love, il cui pezzo forte era la sua tragedia Giulietta e Romeo […]. Gli ho chiesto a bruciapelo se aveva scritto lui tutte le tragedie e le poesie che gli sono state attribuite. Quella che noi chiamiamo rosa manterrebbe lo stesso soave profumo anche se avesse un altro nome, ha detto lui […]. Gli ho chiesto se aveva avuto relazioni amorose con uomini oltre che con donne […]. Ma la sua risposta è stata un inno all'amore fra tutte le creature […]. Ciò che scambiammo fu innocenza contro innocenza. Questa dev'essere la pornografia più softcore che io abbia mai sentito” (pagine 58-59).

Quella a Mary Shelley:

“Le ho detto che oggi molte persone ignoranti credono che Frankenstein sia il nome del mostro, e non dello scienziato che lo ha creato. Non sono poi così ignoranti, dopotutto, ha detto lei. Nella mia storia ci sono due mostri, non uno. E uno di essi, lo scienziato, si chiama proprio Frankenstein” (pagina 63).

Infine, quella ad Isaac Asimov:

“Isaac, gli ho detto, tu dovresti essere nel Guinness dei primati. E lui mi ha detto: Per essere immortalato con un gallo di nome Balordo che pesa dieci chili e ha ucciso due gatti? Gli ho chiesto se scriveva ancora, e lui mi ha detto: Sempre! Se non potessi scrivere sempre, questo per me sarebbe l'inferno. La terra, per me, sarebbe stata un inferno, se non avessi potuto scrivere sempre. L'inferno stesso mi riuscirebbe sopportabile, se potessi scrivere sempre […]. Un'ultima domanda, l'ho pregato. A cosa attribuisci la tua incredibile produttività? Isaac Asimov ha risposto con una sola parola: Fuga. Poi ha aggiunto una celebre dichiarazione dell'altrettanto prolifico scrittore francese Jean-Paul Sartre: l'inferno sono gli altri” (pagine 72-73).

Già dall'introduzione dell'autore, dalla scelta dei personaggi intervistati e dalle dichiarazioni riportate, emerge tutta la potenza, la fantasia e l'immaginazione, la brillantezza e la capacità corrosiva della penna di Vonnegut, ma anche tutto il suo più sincero pensiero umanista e libertario.

“Sono un umanista, il che significa, in parte, che ho cercato di comportarmi decorosamente senza pretendere, dopo che sarò morto, né ricompense né castighi […]. Il mio bisnonno Clemens Vonnegut, per esempio, scrisse: se ciò che Gesù era buono, cosa può importare se era Dio o no? Quanto a me, ho scritto: se non fosse per il messaggio di misericordia e di pietà contenuto nel Discorso della Montagna di Gesù, non vorrei essere un essere umano. Preferirei essere un serpente a sonagli” (pagina 23).

Arricchiscono l'opera del sempre buffo e dissacrante Vonnegut, tradotta da Vincenzo Mantovani, una sentita prefazione di Francesco Piccolo ed una nota molto personale di Neil Gaiman. Nel complesso, un'opera minore, certo, ma pur sempre un'opera irresistibile per chi ama questo scrittore, la cui penna è sempre diretta, generosa, sincera, sfacciatamente spassosa e godibile. Un grande autore che sa essere allo stesso tempo divertente e commovente, un veicolo di messaggi importanti ed intelligenti, ben visibili anche quando vengono mascherati da stupidità, conditi qua e là con buone dosi di facezie e di trovate geniali. Dio la benedica, dottor Vonnegut!

“Il primo motivo irresistibile per cui non si può non amare Vonnegut è che lo senti vicino vicino. La prima pagina del primo libro che hai letto di Vonnegut è indimenticabile per questo, perché hai pensato: ma questo è un mio amico” (dalla prefazione di Francesco Piccolo, pagina 6).
April 17,2025
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مجموعه گزارش های وونه گوت در رادیوی WNYC به عنوان گزارشگره . مثل همه ی کارای دیگه ش با همون زبان ساده ، ولی خوندنش هم مث سایر کاراش لطف خودشو داره :-)
April 17,2025
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(2.5) Would we take that 3/4's dead and go through the blue tunnel with a round trip back to life journey if we could? To obtain information from the mind of some of the best known intellectuals to ever live, with the absence of the concept of time? Vonnegut posits this for a brief analysis through the mind of a reporter that is being assisted by the ever-so-loved Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Witticisms a plenty and sarcasm, as usual, Vonnegut plays the intermediary interlocutor between the long dead (some famous, some banal) and the living.

A bit anti-war at times, yet always himself, Vonnegut doesn't touch any new territory with this short work than he already has, but entertains and makes us crack a smile at random thoughts...

n  "I asked this heroic pet lover how it felt to have died for a schnauzer named Teddy. He was philosophical. He said it sure as heck beat dying for absolutely nothing in the Viet Nam War."n

If you're a novice when it comes to Vonnegut's work, bypass this for 'Slaughterhouse Five' or even 'Bluebeard'. You'll find better stuff from him elsewhere, so it goes...
April 17,2025
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vonnegut must have written this later in life...

...what is a humanist? a humanist is a schmitt-heel who makes fun of the beliefs of others, at their expense, and offers nothing in exchange...

as cervantes wrote...friend to friend no more draws near and the jester's cane has become a spear.

read this one on my amazon kindle, second book i've read on it, both today...got to wondering...are all the pages here? how would i know? can't fan through them and sniff the cover...or is that against the law by now?

so kurt vonnegut as the narrator, making some money for public radio, or tv...has these near death experiences arranged by dr. jack kervorkian...dr. death as he has been called, never called that in this....story...(vonnegut is a humanist, dontcha know)...

...the only fair game are christians...americans, especially the founding fathers, like thomas jefferson, amazingly....wait not...he wasn't at the end of the blue tunnel in heaven...somehow jefferson is a topic though, as a slave owner, yeah, you've heard the spiel...blah de da, jefferson owned slaves...

....so you, gentle reader, american, deserve to feel guilt the rest of your natural life...cause, well vonnegut is a humanist and that's the intent.

meanwhile, let's all celebrate while barack obama makes fun of those folk in pennsylvania, clinging to their guns and religion....or the rev wright, damns america...no burning cross behind him....but where the fock was the outcry?

well, his face was exposed, there on the pulpit of the all-illinois-e church of the modern christ. no hood, but precious little outcry...maybe the rev is a humanist?

this one wasn't as bad as that other'n (a man w/o a country)...all that ranting...this one at least had a modicum of comedy, vonnegut, choking on his tongue.

two stars is probably being generous....and yeah, sure, okay, tongue in cheek, less of a spear, like that other'n i read by vonnegut, more of the jester's cane, but it's sharp...and hey, that's allowed...he's a humanist.

it's this mentality that allows some wit from one of the major networks to go on the national news and say something about "trailer parks" and paula jones in the same sentence and nobody bats a flocking eyelash. humanism? give me a freakin break.

oh, and hitler was a christian. gosh, who'd-a-thunk-it! "watch out for the christians!" vonneguts writes. hO hO hO! a real knee slapper there, kurt! funny thing is, i'd just completed a read of the brothers karamazov and i'm assuming russia's religions had some sway at the time and thereafter, but we all know about stalin's purges and the state of religion in that country, right? what? was uncle joe a christian?

no...it's not christians one need fear, it's the kind of mentality that thinks writing like this from vonnegut is a hoot. joking you say? okay, i'll buy that, but like i said, the jester's cane has been sharpened and he seems to delight in stabbing all with it and by the time "a man w/o a country" came out, he was a ranting fool.


vonnegut was out of his focking mind...hitler/christian?

what focking malarkey. hitler was first and foremost a darwinian!

this cock-smoking son-of-a--bitch thought he was the head of a superior race and vonnegut insults Christ and his followeres by suggesting this cock-sucker is one of them!!!!

and what is so fucking amazing is the number of shitheels who found this amusing.

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