Oh, he's great! They would exclaim. There's this science fiction writer, see, but it turns out that the things he's writing are real....and, and, the crazy Trafalamadorians are behind Stonehenge....and, and Vonnegut and his sister turn into ducks...and, and Billy Pilgrim gets unstuck in time...and, and.
The homophobia was equal to or surpasses that of anything on the syllabus of my Modern American Literature class.
In The Sirens of Titan (1959), Salo, a robot, is in love with a man. "There was nothing offensive in this love. That is, it wasn't homosexual." Well, that's a relief! Can't have any of that offensive "homosexual" love!
In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), we read the personals column of a newspaper. Some of the ads are nice, but this one is "sick": "St. Louis hairdresser, male, would like to hear from other males in the Show-me State." Why am I supposed to find it "sick"?
It was filmed in 1999, with Bruce Willis as Dwayne and Lucas Haas (left) as Bunny.
The short story "Harrison Bergeron" (1961), an impassioned plea against equal rights, posits a future dystopia where everyone is equal -- literally. Attractive people have to wear masks, smart people hear loud noises to break their concentration, and graceful dancers are hobbled, all due to the draconian political correctness fomented by lesbian feminazi Diana Moon Glampers.
It's been filmed three times, with Avind Harum, Sean Astin (top photo), and Richard Kindler as the heroic heterosexual Harrison.
Lest you think that Vonnegut's homophobia mellowed with age, try his memoir, Man without a Country (2005):
“If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts."
Ok, how could being gay possibly hurt your parents?
The short story "Harrison Bergeron" (1961), an impassioned plea against equal rights, posits a future dystopia where everyone is equal -- literally. Attractive people have to wear masks, smart people hear loud noises to break their concentration, and graceful dancers are hobbled, all due to the draconian political correctness fomented by lesbian feminazi Diana Moon Glampers.
It's been filmed three times, with Avind Harum, Sean Astin (top photo), and Richard Kindler as the heroic heterosexual Harrison.
Lest you think that Vonnegut's homophobia mellowed with age, try his memoir, Man without a Country (2005):
“If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts."
Ok, how could being gay possibly hurt your parents?
And who in 2005 thought that you could decide to be gay in order to hurt them?
Yes, when high school I read an essay from him about Stephenwolf where he rails about how disgusting the sexuality is in it.
ReplyDeleteIn one book (do not recall which) Vonnegut wrote this or close to it: “Do you want to know why I never got AIDS? I didn’t fuck around.”
ReplyDeleteIt's from "Timequake" (1997)
Delete"timequake"... i'd read parts of that, and there's a character in it the lead hated who was described, of course, as homosexual. i don't know why people liked his writing. even without disparaging gay people, i didn't think he had the right style. maybe it's the ideas espousing much of what the right wing fears about the future.
DeleteWow I have read some of his stories but never knew he so homophobic
ReplyDelete