Timequake

infobox Book |
name = Timequake


image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
author = Kurt Vonnegut
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
genre = Semi-autobiographical novel; Fiction
publisher = Putnam Publishing Group
release_date = 1997
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 219
isbn = ISBN 0-399-13737-8 :"For an alternate meaning of" timequake, "see Millennium (film)."

"Timequake" is a semi-autobiographical work by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. published in 1997. Vonnegut described the novel as a "stew", in which he alternates between summarizing a novel he had been struggling with for a number of years, and waxing nostalgic about various events in his life. [cite news
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E2D71E38F93BA1575AC0A961958260
title = Vonnegut Stew
accessdate = 2007-05-07
publisher = New York Times
date = 1997-09-28]

Plot summary

Vonnegut uses the premise of a timequake (or repetition of actions) in which there is no free will. The idea of determinism is explored -- as it is in many of his previous works -- to assert that people really have no free will. Kilgore Trout serves again as the main character. Vonnegut explains in the beginning of the book that he was not satisfied with the original version of Timequake he wrote (or "Timequake One"). So, he took parts of "Timequake One" and combined it with personal thoughts and anecdotes to make the finished product, so-called "Timequake Two". Many of the anecdotes deal with Vonnegut's family, the death of loved ones, and people's last words.The plot, while centered on Trout, is also a sort of ramble in which Vonnegut goes off on complete tangents to the plot and comes back dozens of pages later: the Timequake has thrust citizens of the year 2001 back in time to 1991 to repeat every action they undertook during that time.

Most of the small stories in the book center around the depression and sadness wrought by watching oneself make bad choices: people watch their parents die again, drive drunk or cause accidents that severely injure others. At the end of the timequake, when people resume control, they are depressed and gripped by ennui. Kilgore Trout is the only one not affected by the apathy, and thus helps revive others by telling them "You were sick, now you're better, there's work to be done".

In the conclusion of this book, Vonnegut (who has inserted himself into the text, something he also did in "Breakfast of Champions") meets other authors for a celebration of Trout.

Allusions in other works

The Art Brut song "Late Sunday Evening" uses Trout's mantra "You were sick, now you're better, there's work to be done" as its refrain.

References