I finished Slaughterhouse-Five a couple of days ago, and it was the first novel that introduced me to Vonnegut's writing. The man was a well of wisdom, knowledge, and to boot very comedic. Watching interviews of him I just love his no-nonsense direct way of speaking. In an interview he did for PBS (which you can easily find on here) the interviewer asked him "How's life?" and Vonnegut replied "Thankfully almost over." Oh man I absolutely love his honesty. If anyone can direct me to more video interviews or even audio interviews of Vonnegut, I'd really appreciate it. Hearing him elaborate on topics is so rewarding.

"Women are no good at science. They discovered that at Harvard." I can't believe everyone missed that joke here. Vonnegut was obviously making a reference to the Lawrence Summers controversy at Harvard.

Masterful response, Mr. Vonnegut!

Love love love what he had to say. What a funny man.

Kurt and Joyce going at it...the sexes and history.....what a priceless exchange. Colin's nudges are just right.

Whenever I shake my head in wonder or despair at how badly we are capable of behaving, I think about our hard wiring. The wiring has us make snap judgments (bringing us to bias & prejudice) or be violent or selfish, all things that were necessary for survival on the ancient plains. Then I remember that we are very young, as a species, and I remember to hope for the future.

The way they look at each other is hilarious!

Vonnegut is the fucking best.

I have been reading it this week.

"Women stayed at home sending care packages and knitting" Did Joyce not ever stop to think that might kinda be part of the problem?

I'm so glad Vonnegut hit back so hard... What an immature, rude way to voice an opinion. I don't necessarily disagree with Oates (war and violence would still exist, but in a very different sort of way), but who the hell says it by interrupting someone mid-sentence when it had nothing to do with the discussion at hand!? It would be different if the moderator asked, "Would bad things still exist with a planet inhabited by women?" But he didn't. So how about we not be so rude and self-serving?

Oates' question wasn't just banal and dumb. When you consider the various kinds of oppression, violations, and general brutality leveled at women, as well as our societal inability to fully overcome those prejudices, Oates' comment actually further supported Vonnegut's point.

I think we're missing a fair bit of context with this one.

Vonnegut was the man

@angrymurmurs You are misinterpreting Vonnegut's sarcasm as his belief. He said it to prod Joyce, who interrupted him with a self-indulgent comment about sexism.

Two lessons. 1. We're all human beings and therefore inherently flawed and it's therefore probably a bad idea to try and claim that a single gender is responsible for all the problems in the world. 2. Don't interrupt Kurt Vonnegut when he's in the middle of giving an answer.

Whatever you say precious.

The funniest thing is the looks they give each other.

This. When someone is pretty much saying people suck and they are known for being humorous, trying to take it into a more serious direction is just a bad move.

As a fan of Kurt, I noticed a lot of his readers are, well, sadly unread. They don't even know who JCO is.

@TheIllestVillain What didn't I understand? Quotations: "Destruction from males, nothing from females," and, "men at least build shit." How is my commentary about how women do not build shit out of place? It's harmonious and a perfect follow up to what you said. What are you on about, here?

@realtheloniuscrunk Congratulations. You found a typo. I couldn't have asked for a more engaging response.

Has anyone read Vonnegut's Bluebeard? It seems like the Joyce hadn't.

YEEE vonnegut kicks ass

@realtheloniuscrunk He responded with a sexist remark. And this "idiot" is one of the best and most prolific American writers of our time.

Go VONNEGUT!

Steve Almond tells a slightly different version of this in his book, (Not that You Asked). (Not that I blame him.)

he shut that woman up real quick like

“We” aren’t doing anything but being gaslit in mass. Let’s stop blaming the powerless like trained monkeys and start looking at at the powerful who make the decisions regardless of what the population want. They use our compassion and shame in order to train the mind to adjust to insanity. We are the people in Harrison Bergeron that can not think a thought without the flood of confusion.

war is the ultimate expression of passion and art. sure you can be sentimental and say it's bad because people die in it, but people die anyway and ultimately life is pointless, so you might as well appreciate war's awesome beauty

based on the amount of fights I see them get into + the lack of disapproval from their peers to be fair white society is also kind of drifting that way, but it's not quite there yet

@rdeem25 ahhhh yeah now thats funny. lol thanks for clarifying

I won't tolerate being disparaged under this 'guys' collective. Listen to yourself - 'Guys' (creating a singular group) 'Stop making yourselves sounder stupider than you have already.' The default in your accusation is that guys say stupid things - it's on this basis, isn't it, that you then tell us to stop voicing our opinions: because, by default, something said by a man, in opposition to a woman, is stupid. Oh, my, I'm getting upset over nothing again...

@1stopX if womwn are so evolved, hom come they are so impressed with shiny things(diamonds)?

@dionusos2 It's always exciting when someone takes it upon themselves to do the job on Microsoft Word. It makes me feel at home. (lol)

In every part of this full interview, Joyce seems to be unable to grasp the context of the conversation. Although, it is comforting to know that there are kind and peaceful women who stay home knitting and sending care packages while their husbands and sons are off murdering throughout human history.

this woman is literally beatrice from sirens of titan

She has convinced me that there is also a lower case asterisk.

@bloemetjen It's a children's crusade!

@realtheloniuscrunk That's Joyce Carol Oates. I wouldn't be so hasty to call her a moron. The other woman, though, she's a chick lit writer that accidentally wandered on stage. Go nuts.

Unfortunately, most people in these comments just go "lol, feminist got told". Which is neither openminded nor very intelligent.

Poe's law in work everyone.

It reveals the latent sexism of your perspective.

I like how she gets offended at his comment about women and science, when she's clearly the one trying to lump in women with sugar and spice and all things nice.

From your perspective, it's wrong. That doesn't make it sexist. You deserve the utmost of my respect, or is that sexist?

Even though Vonnegut's answer was rather sexist, he did agree with Joyce Carol Oates that men were the ones who mostly caused the wars. Vonnegut was talking in a very sex neutral way about how human beings work like a disease. I guess his inappropriate sense of humor got the better of him. I've read novels by both writers, they both are very wise and respectable in my opinion. I find this video hilarious because I understand where both of them are coming from.

Kurt Vonnegut is a fucking G. Way to stick it to Oates!

Of all the studies... Parents likewise don't encourage their autistic children to become actors (that is, parents are reactive to their children's personality: they encourage them toward optimal achievement). I don't disagree, but you need to start propping better evidence if you're to make any claim of respectability.

it certainly doesn't. vonnegut was in the middle of a topic and was interrupted by a point that was utterly unrelated to the one he was making so he quickly dismissed it with a joke. no sexism here, sorry. you'll have to look elsewhere for your complaining.

FACE. That's what you get for interrupting Kurt Vonnegut.

I had the highest exam scores in class for the last chemistry and math courses I took, both being 101%. I barely even studied. Everyone, including my teachers, thought I had cheated because they had the same outdated, sexist mindset as Vonnegut. I was even asked by one teacher to show my study notes to prove I didn't cheat. This was at a very competitive, top-ranking school. I've also won 1st place in an essay contest and have been editing college papers for others since I was in middle school, with none of them receiving less than an A. To top it off, I'm also currently a paid model.

If Kurt had brought up some great things (some) men had achieved, would Oates have said, "Behind every great man, there's a woman?" Yeah, she would have-- in an instant. Only when the deed is bad does she deny her gender had anything to do with it.

That fact that you think it is self-indulgent is sexist.

poor old edger derby...

Have none y'all heard of a woman asking a rhetorical question?? Like imo she was too persistent and repetitive, it would have gotten the point across more efficiently if she'd just said it once which leads me to believe she was likely expecting an affirmation, but regardless it didn't seem like a serious question on her part fr lol

That Old lady just got punked hardcore by Vonnegut

Nonetheless, when cavemen have stones and we have ever-increasing destructive potential (nuclear, biological, chemical tools), there is great reason for concern. Humans are children playing with toys they are not grown enough yet to use properly.

Why was everyone so nervous around this old Drunk Kurt . Come on he would've been the 1st to say . That writing is a kinda of fiction because even historically what he Rembered was diffrent to how everyone else saw things Yes he wrote sum great books but he was stuck i this literary Rut This kinda American Homely Wisdom that never really goes out on a limb Mostly drunken don't Give A fckk Statements Don't get me wrong I love to read his books But The context has nothing to do with my life experience my world . Sorry I didn't have no shoes and froozen one the German front line But my grandad was captured by the Russians and had no boots And only his big toes Wen we went swimming I wasn't supposed to ask wat happened to the rest of his toes and tips of his fingers . He seemed perfectly ok But he was tortuored in the gulags after Capture at Stalingrad He was just a private solider ! He didn't reach home til 1948 . Funny old world

Yeah, women never support wars. Take Margaret Thatcher for instance. Wait...

There are no women home knitting.

Joyce Carol Oates -- that little chick. I bet she was hot for Kurt's wrinkled up old bod. Conversely, Kurt was pretty obviously putting the make on her. In fact -- wait a minute! -- the whole thing was right out of junior high!!! If only great authors (Kurt not one; Joyce, yes one) would just keep their mouths shut and WRITE!

damn feminist

ehhhhehe you should be sorry.

That joke at the end is worthless

I want to see her write a 400 page novel about someone knitting and sending care packages. Let's see how much it sells.

In general, you have no clue what you are talking about. There's much more to neolithic revolution and sedentism than women being golddiggers.

Guys: Stop making yourselves sound stupider than you have already. The women you're all bashing is a better writer, by all accounts, than Vonnegut (who is mostly popular because of his views). I agree with both of them, or to put it differently, they're both speaking from limited perspectives.