We Are What We Pretend to Be: the First and Last Works

Publisher Marketing: Called our finest black-humorist by "The Atlantic Monthly," Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Now his first and last works come together for the first time in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, "We Are What We Pretend To Be." Written to be sold under the pseudonym of Mark Harvey, "Basic Training" was never published in Vonnegut s lifetime. It appears to have been written in the late 1940s and is therefore Vonnegut s first ever novella. It is a bitter, profoundly disenchanted story that satirizes the military, authoritarianism, gender relationships, parenthood, and most of the assumed mid-century myths of the family. Haley Brandon, the adolescent protagonist, comes to the farm of his relative, the old crazy who insists upon being called The General, to learn to be a straight-shooting American. Haley s only means of survival will lead him to unflagging defiance of the General s deranged (but oh so American, oh so military) values. This story and its 30ish author were no friends of the milieu to which the slick magazines advertisers were pitching their products. When Vonnegut passed away in 2007, he left his last novel unfinished. Entitled "If God Were Alive Today," this last work is a brutal satire on societal ignorance and carefree denial of the world s major problems. Protagonist Gil Berman is a middle-aged college lecturer and self-declared stand-up comedian who enjoys cracking jokes in front of a college audience while societal dependence on fossil fuels has led to the apocalypse. Described by Vonnegut as, the stand-up comedian on Doomsday, Gil is a character formed from Vonnegut s own rich experiences living in a reality Vonnegut himself considered inevitable. Along with the two works of fiction, Vonnegut s daughter, Nanette shares reminiscences about her father and commentary on these two works both exclusive to this edition. In this fiction collection, exist Vonnegut s grand themes: trust no one, trust nothing; and the only constants are absurdity and resignation, which themselves cannot protect us from the void but might divert." Contributor Bio:  Vonnegut, Kurt Kurt Vonnegut was an American science fiction and humour writer. Born in Indianapolis in 1922, Vonnegut studied chemistry in University while serving as an editor of his school's newspaper. The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted his post-secondary education, and Vonnegut served as a mechanical engineer in the army. Vonnegut's war experience, particularly his survival of the firebombing of Dresden in an underground meat locker in a building called "Slaughterhouse Five," vastly influenced his later writing, as well as his turn to pacifism and humanism. His most famous works include Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 84. Contributor Bio:  Wyman, Oliver Oliver Wyman, a native New Yorker, has appeared on stage as well as in film, and television. He is one of the founders of New York City's Collective Unconscious theater, and his performances include the award-winning "reality play" "Charlie Victor Romeo" and A. R. McElhinney's cult classic film "A Chronicle of Corpses". He also lent his voice to several episodes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oliver's work as a narrator extends to over 150 audiobooks and has won many him awards, including Audie awards for his reading of Lance Armstrong's autobiography, "It's Not About the Bike", and Thomas L. Friedman's "The World is Flat". He also read James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces", Tim Dorsey's "Atomic Lobster", and David Weber's "By Schism Rent Asunder". Oliver has won five Audie Awards from the Audio Publisher's Association, fourteen Earphone Awards from "AudioFile" "Magazine", and two Listen Up Awards from "Publisher's Weekly. "Oliver was named a 2008 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture by "AudioFile Magazine". Contributor Bio:  Toren, Suzanne Suzanne Toren has over 30 years of experience in recording. She won the American Foundation for the Blind's Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year in 1988, and "AudioFile" magazine named her the 2009 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture. She is also the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards. Her many credits include works by Jane Smiley, Margaret Weis, Jerry Spinelli, Barbara Kingsolver, and Cynthia Rylant. "AudioFile "also raves, "Toren brings a distinguishing warmth and power to her narrations. Her talents extend to both fiction and nonfiction, and in her recording career of 30-plus years she has given listeners heart-wrenching memoirs, lively history, engaging light fiction, and involving mysteries." Toren also performs on and off-Broadway and in regional theatres.