He's up in Heaven now.

خودش چنگی به دل نزد و ترجمه هم بسیار بد و گنگ بود. هیچ ترجمه‌ای جز علی‌اصغر بهرامی برای ونه‌گات نباید خوند ظاهرا.

ایده‌ی داستانی این کتاب برای من خیلی جالب بود.
اینکه یک نفر توسط پزشکی به جهان دیگر فرستاده بشه و با افرادی ملاقات کنه به خودی خود ایده‌ی خلاقانه‌ای هست.
هر چند من خیلی از افراد رو نمی‌شناختم متاسفانه اما به هر حال دیالوگ‌های قشنگی بود و دوست داشتم.
جالب‌ترین داستان‌ها برای من مردی بود که بالن سواری می‌کرد و هیچ جا جز بالن براش بهشت حساب نمیشد.
یکی دیگه هیتلر بود که گفت مجسمه‌ای ازش ساخته بشه و بنویسن روش : معذرت میخوام
یکی دیگه هم نیوتن بود که اونجا هم همچنان میخواست ببینه اون جهان چطور کار میکنه و...
کلا لذت بردم.
پیشنهاد میکنم بخونیدش زمان زیادی هم نمیگیره ،یک روزه تمومه.
امیدوارم از خوندنش لذت ببرید.

My favorites:

John Brown
James Earl Ray
Mary Shelley
Carla Fate Tucker

I will never cease to be amazed and satisfied by Kurt Vonnegut’s writing. He will forever be my favorite author next to the ones who wrote down the Sermon on the Mount.

I'm on the fence about a lot of Vonnegut's work. Because on the one hand, I read Slaughterhouse 5 as a literature illiterate in Junior year of High School (it wasn't until after High School that I became a real fan of reading). So there's a lot to love about Vonnegut on a purely nostalgic basis, or at least on the basis that he is who introduced me to literature in the first place. It was he that warmed me up to the great works that were to come, and of all the books that I claim to love now. I wonder to what extent I would appreciate the works that I do know if it wasn't for writers like Vonnegut to sharpen my literary tastes. For that I am thankful for the guy and appreciate the impact he's had on me as a reader and fan of literature. BUT on the other hand, I have to admit you to all, my dearest goodreaders, that I have grown out of Vonnegut's work significantly. And as snobbish or condescending as that might sound, 'tis the truth of the matter. It's difficult, for me anyway, to read other authors who push the envelope of writing and flex their might prowess with prose, to return to my roots and read the plain-jane Vonnegut style and still enjoy it. The lengths to which other authors have brought me seems to overshadow the work that Vonnegut does. He is a writer (of his own admission) that is great in ideas but weak in actual writing ability. While I don't agree that his writing is weak (it is its own style and inhabits its own space as a style of writing), I do agree with the underlying sentiment. V. puts emphasis on the ideas and structure of the story much more than he does of his writing. And I'm at the point in my career as a reader that I will always want something from the writing itself, as a mode and avenue of expression. For me, the whole point of reading literature (what separates itself from any other medium of story-telling) are the things that writing can do in and of itself, hence my proclivity for post-modernism (that puts writing itself as the main focus of its story-telling aim) and prose that is effected poetically in some way, shape or form, Nabokov, Woolf, etc. This is the main issue that I take with all minimalist writing, which maximalist writing (loose categories here, nothing too specific in mind) provides and quenches what I seek to get from writing. If the writing is so transparent so as to allow a fully-clear view into the story itself, then what's the point of using words? Why not any other medium? Such writing yields the medium of writing arbitrary. Not all of this applies to Vonnegut however, because he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve (more than the other minimalist writers that use such style of stripped-down prose). It's interesting that Vonnegut is pomo in several ways—author inserted into the story, incredulity towards grand narratives and self-awareness of the medium itself—yet he presents it all in such a simple way. I think that if I were more inclined towards the stripped-down Hemingway style, that Vonnegut would be one of my favorite writers of all time, but alas, I'm not and alas he's not.

This story in particular is a great read: short, fun and intelligent. The ending sets up this ambiguity that resides at the heart of all of Vonnegut's novels. Without spoiling anything, there is a tension running throughout the whole novella between the secular and the religious, and in tandem, meaningless existence and meaningful existence. Despite being a proclaimed atheist and humanist, Vonnegut (the author and the narrative persona) writes a story about heaven and everyone inside it. The reason why this idea and conceit is so much fun in the book is that most of us find comfort in such things (no controversy here, right? assurance of a special place after you die is much more comforting than the unknown void after one dies). So Vonnegut plays with this propensity we have as human beings to keep us going through this playful story, wherein the main character travels back and forth between earth and the gates of heaven to speak to famous figures of history. Yet at the end, the credibility of the narrator is thrown into doubt (as well as the credibility of all such stories that give us hope). The question remains if Vonnegut is an optimist or a pessimist about the hope that people get from such fanciful stories. And that's where his genius shines because for a few sweet minutes after finishing the story, he is both at the same time: hopeful and hopeless.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007) Amerikalı hümanist yazardır. II. Dünya Savaşı'nda Avrupa'da asker olarak hizmet vermiştir. Almanya'da savaş esiri olarak ele geçirilip, Dresden (Almanya) şehrinin bombalanmasına şahit olmuştur. Bu olayın etkisiyle, popüler ve başarılı olan "Mezbaha No 5" (Slaughterhouse-Five) kitabını yazmıştır. Ülkemizde "Kedi Beşiği", "Galapagos", "Titan'ın Sirenleri", "Şampiyonların Kahvaltısı", "Kör Nişancı", "Otomatik Piyano", "Allah Senden Razı Olsun Dr. Kevorkian", "Allah Senden Razı Olsun Bay Rosewater" ve yine "Mezhaba No 5" kitaplarıyla tanınıp, ölümsüzleşmiştir.
İyi bir bilim-kurgu (özellikle de yazarlığının başlangıcında) ve hiciv yazma yeteneğine de sahiptir. Kitaplarında bu yeteneğinin etkileri fazlasıyla görülür.

Allah Senden Razı Olsun Dr. Kevorkian (God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian / 1999), Vonnegut tarafından yazılan ve ilk olarak WYNC'de (Amerikan radyo kanalı) yayınlanan kısa süreli kurgusal röportajlar koleksiyonudur. Bu kurgu, Dr. Jack Kevorkian adlı doktor tarafından geliştirilen bir infaz tesisinde geçiyor. Kevorkian'ın geliştirdiği iğneyle Vonnegut'un "kontrollü ölüm" adı altında beyaz ışığı görmesi ve geri gelmesi amaçlanıyor. Bu şekilde, Vonnegut'un ahiret muhabiri olarak "Öteki Dünya" yolculuğu kayıt altına alınarak başlatılıyor. Bu "Öteki Dünya" yolculukları esnasında birçok ölü kişiyi ziyaret ediyor Vonnegut. Bu kişilerden bazıları William Shakespeare, Martin Luther King, Mary Shelley, Adolf Hitler gibi isimler. Bu isimlerle röportajlara katılıyor, sohbet ediyor ve Vonnegut'un sohbetinde kullandığı keskin mizahi yönünü görüyoruz. Kurgunun derinliğine çok güzel yedirdiği siyasi eleştirileri ve iğnelemeleri görmek de tuz biber oluyor, büyük keyif katıyor bizlere. Özellikle İncili Kapılar'da, (Pearly Gates / Bazı Hristiyan mezheplerine göre cennete açılan kapı anlamına gelmektedir.) Aziz Petrus (Katolik Kilisesi'ne göre ilk Papa ve İsa'nın varisidir.) ile yaptığımız komik, eğlenceli sohbetler çok güzeldi. Vonnegut'a hayran kaldım doğrusu, kendisini okumaya devam edeceğim.

I think, for once, the brevity of this book does the subject matter a disservice. The short pieces were originally presented as 90-second interludes on WNYC, Manhattan's public radio station through the material has been reworked prior to publication. It is easy, tempting even, to race through this book, and enjoy the fun part of it (guilty as charged), and it is funny throughout, and not get the message; he can be quite subtle.

Vonnegut presents these short pieces as if they were factual accounts of near-death experiences he has voluntarily allowed himself to go through, under the auspices of the titular Dr Kevorkian, in order for the author to interview the recently, and no so recently, deceased.

His choices are diverse – Isaac Asimov, John Brown, Adolf Hitler – if not inspired through many were unknown to me. The book has a decidedly American edge to it and that is where, as a Briton (and a Briton not particularly interested in British – let alone American – politics was at a disadvantage) but there is much more to the book than his musings on America’s gun policy or its history of slavery.

His writing is understated but he manages to make his words work which is doubly surprising when you see the rambling, chatty way in which it is written. It is only Vonnegut I’ve read to date so maybe its time I checked out Slaughterhouse Five or Cat’s Cradle, the two books he himself gave an A+ to.

این نگاه طنازانه و شیرین رو ونه گات دقیقا از کجا آورده بوده؟ یکی از معدود کسایی که باعث می شه وقتی دارم کتابش رو می خونم بلند بلند بخندم. بزرگ ترین مسائل اجتماعی-سیاسی رو هم می تونه خیلی ظریف به سخره بگیره و در عین حال انتقاد خودش رو هم مطرح کنه.
مصاحبه با شکسپیر، آیزاک آسیموف، جیمز ارل گری،نیوتون، هیتلر دوست داشتنی ترین بودن.

ریشخند ونه گات به همه نتایج پیشرفت بشری اینجا هم واقعا جذاب و عالی از کار درآمده. جزو آخرین کارهای دوران پیری نویسنده است و سایه مرگ کاملا روی نوشته ها احساس میشود. مدام در طول تونل آبی رنگ مرگ میرود و برمیگردد و با شخصیتهای سرشناس تاریخ غرب گفتگو میکند. در اکثر مواقع این که چطور میراث آدمهای بزرگ تاریخ غرب دستمایه تبعیض و سوءاستفاده از انسانهای دیگر شده است میگوید. یکی از فرازهایی که واقعا من را به خنده انداخت این ملاقاتش با ایساک نیوتن است:

با سر ايساک نیوتون، که قدیم ها در سال ۱۷۲۷ در گذشته است، تقریبا به اندازهی سنت پیتر دیدار داشته ام. هر دوی آنها آخرهای تونل آبی، در زندگی آن دنیا، ول بودند. سنت پیتر به خاطر شغل اش همان جاها بود. سر ایساک به خاطر کنجکاوی سیراب نشدنی اش در آنجا بود، که این تونل آبی آخر سر چیست، که این تونل آبی چه جوری کار می کند.
برای نیوتن کافی نبود که در هشتاد و پنج سال زندگی اش بر روی زمین، توانسته بود حساب دیفرانسیل و انتگرال، رمز گشایی و تعیین کمیت قوانین جاذبه، حرکت، اپتیک و طراحی اولین تلسكوپهای انعکاسی را ابداع کند. نمی توانست خودش را ببخشد که رسیدن به تئوری تکامل را به داروین واگذار کرده بود، رسیدن به تئوری جرم را به پاستور، و رسیدن به نظریه ی نسبیت به انیشتین رسیده است.

نیمه دوم کتاب البته یک زندگینامه مختصر و مفید از زندگی ونه گات است که ظاهرا ناشر آن را به متن ملحق کرده تا حجم کتاب بیشتر شود. یک ستاره را به خاطر همین نیمه و ترجمه ضعیفش کم کردم

برای شروع کردن مطالعه درباره ونه گات اصلا کتاب خوبی نیست. من تابستان 86 یا 87 دو تا رمان گهواره گربه و سلاخ خانه شماره پنج را پشت سر هم خواندم و از برخورد با این نویسنده غول حیرت کردم. سلاخ خانه را بعدا اردیبهشت 95 دوباره مطالعه کردم و باز هم بیشتر با طنازی نویسنده حال کردم. اگر قبلا چیزی از ونه گات نخوانده باشید این کتاب به نظرتان یک سری شوخی بی نمک می آید و در نمی یابید این نویسنده جهان را چه جای مسخره ای میداند. زمین بازی دانشمندان دیوانه و سیاستمدارهای ابله

Hilarious book. What started as complete irreverence for the hereafter actually became an appreciation of life in the now. Originally a collection of radio shorts for WNYC, the book chronicles the author's trip down the long blue tunnel to visit the Pearly Gates and interview a cast of souls both famous and ordinary. Dr. Kevorkian assists each time to send him 3/4 dead and then to bring him back...well, until Kevorkian gets nabbed for 1st degree murder charges and dragged back to his home state for trial. To me, it isn't worth the sticker price, but borrow it from the library and you won't be disappointed.

Here is an excerpt from the book, Kurt meets Adolf Hitler:

Dr. Kevorkian has just unstrapped me from the gurney after yet another controlled near-death experience. I was lucky enough on this trip to interview none other than the late Adolf Hitler.

I was gratified to learn that he now feels remorse for any actions of his, however indirectly, which might have had anything to do with the violent deaths suffered by thirty-five million people during World War II. He and his mistress Eva Braun, of course, were among those casualties, along with four million other Germans, six million Jews, eighteen million members of the Soviet Union, and so on.

I paid my dues along with everybody else,” he said.

It is his hope that a modest monument, possibly a stone cross, since he was a Christian, will be erected somewhere in his memory, possibly on the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York. It should be incised, he said, with his name and dates 1889-1945. Underneath should be a two-word sentence in German: “Entschuldigen Sie.”

Roughly translated into English, this comes out, “I Beg Your Pardon,” or “Excuse Me."

I love Kurt Vonnegut