In Unstuck in Time, Gregory Sumner guides us, with insight and passion, through a biography of fifteen of Kurt Vonnegut’s best known works, his fourteen novels starting with Player Piano (1952) all the way to an epilogue on his last book, A Man Without a Country (2005), to illustrate the quintessential American writer’s profound engagement with the "American Dream" in its various forms. Sumner gives us a poignant portrait of Vonnegut and his resistance to celebrating the traditional values associated with the American Dream: grandiose ambition, unbridled material success, rugged individualism, and "winners" over "losers." Instead of a celebration of these values, we read and share Vonnegut’s outrage, his brokenhearted empathy for those who struggle under the ethos of survival-of-the-fittest in the frontier mentality—something he once memorably described as "an impossibly tough-minded experiment in loneliness." Heroic and tragic, Vonnegut’s novels reflect the pain of his own life’s experiences, relieved by small acts of kindness, friendship, and love that exemplify another way of living, another sort of human utopia, an alternative American Dream, and the reason we always return to his books.
Unstuck in Time
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Like so many of America’s great vernacular spokespersons—Abraham Lincoln, Will Rogers, Frank Lloyd Wright—Kurth Vonnegut knew that he’d be most convincing when telling his own story with simple, plain honesty. Gregory D. Sumner has perceived that directness in Vonnegut’s novels, and correlates the author’s life and works in an engaging, almost spellbinding manner. The Grand Old Man would have liked this book, and I can sense his blessing on it.”
—Professor Jerome Klinkowitz, author of Vonnegut in Fact, The Vonnegut Effect, and Kurt Vonnegut’s America
“Gregory D. Sumner celebrates what he playfully identifies as the ‘Kurt Vonnegut road show’ with a tribute that is enlightening and entertaining. I read with wonder and delight the biographical sketches so gracefully fused with a montage of Vonnegut stories and the ideas they dramatize. Unstuck in Time is an achievement of scholarship illuminated by a fan’s contagious enthusiasm.”—Sidney Offit, Curator-emeritus George Polk Journalism Awards
"Gregory D. Sumner's Unstuck in Time is a wonderful primer to Kurt Vonnegut's work. Every page brims with analytic insight, biographical revelation, and old-fashioned storytelling. Reading Sumner reminds us about how astoundingly right Vonnegut was about the planetary
condition. Highly recommended!"
—Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University
"'Unstuck in Time'" is a fine, appreciative account of the life and work of a great American writer, Kurt Vonnegut."
—Dan Wakefield, author of New York in the Fifties
“An excellent reading companion to Kurt’s work.”
—Mark Vonnegut
—Professor Jerome Klinkowitz, author of Vonnegut in Fact, The Vonnegut Effect, and Kurt Vonnegut’s America
“Gregory D. Sumner celebrates what he playfully identifies as the ‘Kurt Vonnegut road show’ with a tribute that is enlightening and entertaining. I read with wonder and delight the biographical sketches so gracefully fused with a montage of Vonnegut stories and the ideas they dramatize. Unstuck in Time is an achievement of scholarship illuminated by a fan’s contagious enthusiasm.”—Sidney Offit, Curator-emeritus George Polk Journalism Awards
"Gregory D. Sumner's Unstuck in Time is a wonderful primer to Kurt Vonnegut's work. Every page brims with analytic insight, biographical revelation, and old-fashioned storytelling. Reading Sumner reminds us about how astoundingly right Vonnegut was about the planetary
condition. Highly recommended!"
—Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University
"'Unstuck in Time'" is a fine, appreciative account of the life and work of a great American writer, Kurt Vonnegut."
—Dan Wakefield, author of New York in the Fifties
“An excellent reading companion to Kurt’s work.”
—Mark Vonnegut
About the Author
GREGORY D. SUMNER, JD, PhD, is chair of history at the University of Detroit Mercy, where he has taught since 1993. He holds a doctorate in American history from Indiana University and is the author of Dwight Macdonald and the Politics Circle. Sumner has been awarded summer fellowships by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and has twice been William J. Fulbright Senior Lecturer at the Université di Roma Tre.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Let's face it: the typical high school student forced to explore the world of American Literature is often turned off by writing that is ponderous, inaccessible and humorless. I'm not saying that Melville or Faulkner aren't great writers, but for many (especially inexperienced readers), they're difficult reads. There are, fortunately, writers that are more fun while still being great. Mark Twain is a good example, as is the man he inspired, Kurt Vonnegut. For a teen compelled to read for school, a Vonnegut book is a nice treat compared to other drier (if still essential) works.
Vonnegut has many strengths. He is a modern writer (having only died in 2007), his writing is often funny and it is deceptively simple, disguising deep ideas in seemingly (but not actually) shallow writing. At least two of his novels are true classics - Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five - and many others are excellent, near-classics themselves, including Mother Night, The Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions.
Gregory D. Sumner's book Unstuck in Time is a biography of Vonnegut as related to his fourteen novels. Beyond the Prologue and Epilogue, there are fourteen chapters corresponding to Vonnegut's novels. Each book is discussed with a summary of the story and how it corresponded to what was going on in Vonnegut's life. Since many of Vonnegut's books have an autobiographical element, this method works well.
Sumner shows the primary influences in Vonnegut's life and how they correspond to his novels. These include a childhood during the Great Depression, a family of German ancestry forced to deny its heritage due to world events, a struggle to work in the corporate world and most significantly, World War II (particularly the firebombing of Dresden which serves as the backdrop of his magnum opus, Slaughterhouse-Five).
This is a great book, not only because it's well-written, but because it will inspire you to read (or in my case, re-read) Vonnegut's books. And reading a top writer like Vonnegut is a delight.
Vonnegut has many strengths. He is a modern writer (having only died in 2007), his writing is often funny and it is deceptively simple, disguising deep ideas in seemingly (but not actually) shallow writing. At least two of his novels are true classics - Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five - and many others are excellent, near-classics themselves, including Mother Night, The Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions.
Gregory D. Sumner's book Unstuck in Time is a biography of Vonnegut as related to his fourteen novels. Beyond the Prologue and Epilogue, there are fourteen chapters corresponding to Vonnegut's novels. Each book is discussed with a summary of the story and how it corresponded to what was going on in Vonnegut's life. Since many of Vonnegut's books have an autobiographical element, this method works well.
Sumner shows the primary influences in Vonnegut's life and how they correspond to his novels. These include a childhood during the Great Depression, a family of German ancestry forced to deny its heritage due to world events, a struggle to work in the corporate world and most significantly, World War II (particularly the firebombing of Dresden which serves as the backdrop of his magnum opus, Slaughterhouse-Five).
This is a great book, not only because it's well-written, but because it will inspire you to read (or in my case, re-read) Vonnegut's books. And reading a top writer like Vonnegut is a delight.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I took a liking to this book even before I opened it: the use of Vonnegut's asterisks from 'Breakfast of Champions' on the cover suggested that what I was about to read was aimed at those of us who love Vonnegut's work, and cherish his sense of humour, and humanity. I have no idea whether the author chose the cover, but whoever did deserves a word of thanks.
As an informal reference work, this book is invaluable, particularly for those of us who read his works at the time they were published, and are now turning into what Vonnegut would describe as old farts.Much as we remember the pleasure we got from the books, the details are lost between timid and Timbuctoo.
Each of Vonnegut's books gets a chapter to itself, with an overview of the plot which is detailed enough to invoke memories in those of us who have read the book, and provoke interest in those who have not (or may not have read the early, funnier ones). It also reminds us when old friends reappear in later volumes: something which I tended to miss when I first read the books, back in the day. I've never been good with names: apart from Kilgore Trout, that is. Each chapter also includes episodes of Vonnegut's life, at the time he wrote the book. The author doesn't make any outrageous claims about motivation, affects or semiotics; he just mentions what was going on at the time, and lets us draw our own conclusions.
Books, of course, illustrate the Tralfamadorean view of spacetime: everything is laid out already, and the reader just has to choose the viewpoint. This book is an excellent way for the Vonnegut afficionado to spend a few hours unstuck in time.
As an informal reference work, this book is invaluable, particularly for those of us who read his works at the time they were published, and are now turning into what Vonnegut would describe as old farts.Much as we remember the pleasure we got from the books, the details are lost between timid and Timbuctoo.
Each of Vonnegut's books gets a chapter to itself, with an overview of the plot which is detailed enough to invoke memories in those of us who have read the book, and provoke interest in those who have not (or may not have read the early, funnier ones). It also reminds us when old friends reappear in later volumes: something which I tended to miss when I first read the books, back in the day. I've never been good with names: apart from Kilgore Trout, that is. Each chapter also includes episodes of Vonnegut's life, at the time he wrote the book. The author doesn't make any outrageous claims about motivation, affects or semiotics; he just mentions what was going on at the time, and lets us draw our own conclusions.
Books, of course, illustrate the Tralfamadorean view of spacetime: everything is laid out already, and the reader just has to choose the viewpoint. This book is an excellent way for the Vonnegut afficionado to spend a few hours unstuck in time.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Bookreporter
Format:Hardcover
Gregory D. Sumner's UNSTUCK IN TIME sets out to to collect and analyze all of Kurt Vonnegut's work with respect to his biography. This is a weighty task, and one Sumner attempts out of a love for Vonnegut that is obvious throughout the book's pages. However, the scope of the project is so large that he can't quite do justice to the task --- nor could anyone, perhaps --- and the book turns out to be more an index of every Vonnegut novel than a complete analysis or biography.
UNSTUCK IN TIME begins with a short bio of Vonnegut that tells in broad strokes of his wealthy upbringing, the demise of his family fortune during the Great Depression, and his time at Cornell studying chemistry and working at the campus newspaper. It then moves on to consider his experience as a soldier during World War II, his attempt at a Masters in Anthropology at the University of Chicago (his thesis ideas were rejected so he quit without finishing, though he was honored with the degree later in life) and his first day job in PR at General Electric.
All of these experiences shaped the way Vonnegut writes. Sumner proves this point by spending the book's remaining chapters describing at length the plot of every Vonnegut novel, and outlining how certain plot points and themes connect to events in Vonnegut's life --- or what we know of it from the short description we are given.
But Sumner spends far more time describing each book than getting to a point. Had he chosen to discuss fewer of Vonnegut's works or focused on only certain aspects of them, he could have analyzed his points in more detail, and UNSTUCK IN TIME would have been less of Sumner proving to us that he has read every piece of Vonnegut literature and more of him telling us something interesting about the novels.
UNSTUCK IN TIME does allow us to see how Vonnegut's work evolved over time, yet the main focus of the book is how all of his novels are guided by a single ideology, one influenced by the events in his life. As Sumner sees it, this consists of Vonnegut's sense of patriotism, his understanding of technology, and his love-hate relationship with capitalism.
However, many of Sumner's points are too speculative, and he is prone to dropping information into the book without explaining why he is mentioning it. For example, when discussing a car crash in DEADEYE DICK, he writes, "In its looming mystery the episode reminds us of `The Airborne Toxic Event' of Don DeLillo's WHITE NOISE." Having read WHITE NOISE, I was excited when Sumner raised this point, and eager to hear what he had to say about it. This hypothesis probably could birth an entire book of its own --- whole academic circles are built around less --- but Sumner never takes the point any further.
Still, UNSTUCK TIME is a fun, easy read. Sumner's prose flows, but more importantly, reading about all of Vonnegut's novels one after another is fascinating. As a compendium of all of his plots, it emphasizes the writer's intense creativity. Not having read all of Vonnegut's work, I loved hearing about the wide range of topics he addresses in his novels and how different they all are from one another.
Reviewed by Katherine Tandler
UNSTUCK IN TIME begins with a short bio of Vonnegut that tells in broad strokes of his wealthy upbringing, the demise of his family fortune during the Great Depression, and his time at Cornell studying chemistry and working at the campus newspaper. It then moves on to consider his experience as a soldier during World War II, his attempt at a Masters in Anthropology at the University of Chicago (his thesis ideas were rejected so he quit without finishing, though he was honored with the degree later in life) and his first day job in PR at General Electric.
All of these experiences shaped the way Vonnegut writes. Sumner proves this point by spending the book's remaining chapters describing at length the plot of every Vonnegut novel, and outlining how certain plot points and themes connect to events in Vonnegut's life --- or what we know of it from the short description we are given.
But Sumner spends far more time describing each book than getting to a point. Had he chosen to discuss fewer of Vonnegut's works or focused on only certain aspects of them, he could have analyzed his points in more detail, and UNSTUCK IN TIME would have been less of Sumner proving to us that he has read every piece of Vonnegut literature and more of him telling us something interesting about the novels.
UNSTUCK IN TIME does allow us to see how Vonnegut's work evolved over time, yet the main focus of the book is how all of his novels are guided by a single ideology, one influenced by the events in his life. As Sumner sees it, this consists of Vonnegut's sense of patriotism, his understanding of technology, and his love-hate relationship with capitalism.
However, many of Sumner's points are too speculative, and he is prone to dropping information into the book without explaining why he is mentioning it. For example, when discussing a car crash in DEADEYE DICK, he writes, "In its looming mystery the episode reminds us of `The Airborne Toxic Event' of Don DeLillo's WHITE NOISE." Having read WHITE NOISE, I was excited when Sumner raised this point, and eager to hear what he had to say about it. This hypothesis probably could birth an entire book of its own --- whole academic circles are built around less --- but Sumner never takes the point any further.
Still, UNSTUCK TIME is a fun, easy read. Sumner's prose flows, but more importantly, reading about all of Vonnegut's novels one after another is fascinating. As a compendium of all of his plots, it emphasizes the writer's intense creativity. Not having read all of Vonnegut's work, I loved hearing about the wide range of topics he addresses in his novels and how different they all are from one another.
Reviewed by Katherine Tandler
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to say much more than "Well Done"
Everything you ever wanted to know about the author that everyone should read. THere's not much more to say. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Eric D. Knapp
5.0 out of 5 stars
Likable, informative, relating Vonnegut's life to his works
Like reviewer Doug Urquhart, whose comments I endorse in full, I read Vonnegut's books "back in the day" and all too many details, not to say major chunks, have slipped away. Read more
Published 7 months ago by J.B. Lyle
4.0 out of 5 stars
A creative approach to Vonnegut's life
I read "Slaughterhouse Five" in college and enjoyed it, but not enough to make me seek out other novels by Kurt Vonnegut. Therefore, I admit I'm not a fan. Read more
Published 7 months ago by B. W. Fairbanks
3.0 out of 5 stars
Often interesting but for whom?
If you've read a lot of Vonnegut, you probably found his writing easy to read, a lot of fun, but still holding a lot of substance. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Wayne
1.0 out of 5 stars
How not to write a book report
When I was in grade school, we often had to read books and submit "book reports". The one thing we were told not to do was to simply use our book report to summarize the plot of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by whiteelephant
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vonnegut and the American Experiment
If you're looking for a solid well written/ clear overview of Vonnetgut's work and philosophy, this really is a solid choice . Read more
Published 10 months ago by Cletus van Damme
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book I Can Relate To
For those of us who read Vonnegut's novels in our younger lives, this is a book we can appreciate. It might be a great book for anyone who shares Vonnegut's political beliefs -... Read more
Published 11 months ago by The Spinozanator
1.0 out of 5 stars
Without humor
I could not believe that such a tedious book could be written about one of the more mirthful writers of the late 20th Century. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Sgt. Greg Parker
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Bother With It
The short biography that beings this book is decent. But after that this book is mostly just a plot summary of all of Vonnegut's novels. Read more
Published 13 months ago by George Maio
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost Too Personal for Public Consumption
Some books are almost too personal for public consumption. The life of a novelist is often one of loneliness born of constant introspection hanging on the hope that each well... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Alex Hutchinson
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
So You'd Like to...
|
|
