Slapstick (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Slapstick
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
author = Kurt Vonnegut
illustrator =
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country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science Fiction Novel
publisher = Delacorte Press
release_date = 1976
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-385-28944-8
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Slapstick, or Lonesome No More!" is a science fiction novel by American author Kurt Vonnegut. Written in 1976, it depicts Vonnegut's views of loneliness, both on an individual and social scale.

The book was adapted into the 1982 film "Slapstick of Another Kind".

Plot introduction

The novel concerns the life story of Dr. Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain. Told in autobiographical form, Dr. Swain says that he lives in the ruins of the Empire State Building with his pregnant granddaughter, Melody Oriole-2 von Peterswald, and her lover, Isadore Raspberry-19 Cohen. Dr. Swain is a hideous, 7 foot tall man. When he was born, the tremendous ugliness of him and his fraternal twin sister Eliza forced his parents to shut them off from modern society. However, although the siblings are shut off from the rest of the world, they soon realize that, in close physical contact, they form a vastly powerful and creative intelligence. Thus, through reading and philosophizing together, Wilbur and Eliza manage to combat the feelings of loneliness and isolation that would otherwise ruin their childhood.

Throughout the book, Wilbur claims that his sister Eliza is the more intelligent of the two, but no one realizes that because she can't write. The concept is that Wilbur and Eliza are two halves of the same brain -- Wilbur is the left brain: logical, rational, able to communicate; while Eliza is the right brain: creative, emotional, but unable to communicate effectively.

The siblings' intelligence goes on to create, amongst other things, a plan to end loneliness in America through the creation of vast extended families. Under the plan, all citizens would be provided with new middle names, made of the name of a random organism or element paired with a random number between 1 and 20. Everyone with the same name would be cousins, and everyone with the same name and number would be siblings.

Their parents and the staff of the mansion believe the children are retarded, and the children play this up when in the company of others, so as to not interfere with what they view as a perfect childhood. After hearing their mother wish that they were normal, the children reveal their intelligence to their parents.

Eliza is still deemed unintelligible because she can't read or write, and is sent to a mental institution. Wilbur however is sent to a prep school and eventually goes to Harvard University and receives a doctorate.

Armed with this idea and the slogan, "Lonesome No More!," Dr. Swain wins election to the Presidency, and devotes the waning energies of the Federal government towards the implementation of the plan. In the meantime, Western civilization is nearing collapse as oil runs out, and the Chinese are making vast leaps forward by miniaturizing themselves and training groups of hundreds to think as one. Eventually, the miniaturization proceeds to the point that they become so small that they cause a plague among those who accidentally inhale them, ultimately destroying Western civilization beyond repair. However, even as life as we know it collapses, Swain's middle name policy continues to unite the survivors. The American population constantly risk their time and their lives to selflessly help their fellow cousins and siblings, ensuring that people may live their life, "lonesome no more".

The novel has a typical Vonnegut pattern of short snippets often ending with a punchline of sorts. These are separated by the words "hi ho", which Dr. Swain describes as a sort of verbal hiccup that has developed in his old age.

Often surreal, the novel was written shortly after the death of the author's uncle. It seems to be a bizarre meditation on the nature of the closeness Vonnegut had with his sister Alice, who died of cancer in 1958. Written in an almost free associative style, the book lacks the structural intricacies of Vonnegut's earlier works.

Explanation of title

"Slapstick" is dedicated to Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy (better known as Laurel and Hardy), and the title of the novel is in reference to the physical and situational comedy style that duo employed. Vonnegut explains the title himself in the opening lines of the book's prologue:

"This is the closest I will ever come to writing an autobiography. I have called it "Slapstick" because it is grotesque, situational poetry -- like the slapstick film comedies, especially those of Laurel and Hardy, of long ago. It is about what life "feels" like to me."

External links