This week’s trivia question is about Vonnegut and television.

Q: In 1991, while promoting the Showtime series Welcome to the Monkey House,  Kurt Vonnegut praised which popular sitcom, calling it television’s one comic masterpiece?

a) Cheers

b) Seinfeld

c) M*A*S*H

d) The Dick Van Dyke Show

Check back next week for the answer, or you can find it sooner at “Thirteen Fascinating Facts About Kurt Vonnegut.”

Thirteen Fascinating Facts About Kurt Vonnegut   

The correct response to last week’s question was B – In Slaughterhouse-Five, Edgar Derby is reading The Red Badge of Courage.

In the following clip, a teacher reads a letter of advise to high school students written by Kurt toward the end of his life.  His advice: make your soul grow.

This week’s question is from Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five.

Q: What book does Edgar Derby start reading in the infirmary while watching over Billy Pilgrim?

a) A Farewell to Arms

b) The Red Badge of Courage

c) Johnny Got His Gun

d) The Brothers Karamazov     

Check back next week for the answer.  The correct response to our previous question was A – Steven Paul directed the film adaptation of Slapstick.   

Kurt often wrote of his first wife Jane with great respect and affection.  In the following piece by Ginger Strand in The New Yorker,  the author explores how Jane helped Kurt develop as a writer.

“How Jane Vonnegut Made Kurt Vonnegut a Writer.”   

For more from Ginger Strand, read her interview with The Daily Vonnegut here:

The Brothers Vonnegut – An Interview with Ginger Strand

Finally, here’s a 1987 appearance in which Kurt wonders what might happen to society when “the excrement hits the air conditioning.”