Vonnegut

All of his earlier writing pieces were entirely science fiction and as his writing progressed they have varying degrees of science fiction, but it is always present in his pieces.

During writing he doodled on the sides of old manuscripts which soon turned into a full on hobby later until he eventually presented a one-man show at the Margo Fiden Gallery in Greenwich Village, premiering on October 15, 1983.

He soon began finding writing increasingly tedious and painting much more fun.

Extraordinary Events that occurred to Vonnegut as a child and may have influenced his writing:

• While he was home on leave, his mother committed suicide on Mother’s Day of 1944.
  
• He survived the Allied bombing of Dresden while a prisoner.
  
• His brother-in-law died in a train crash and only hours later his sister died of cancer.
  

http://www.vonnegut.com/artist.asp

He attended Cornell University for 2 years, Carnegie-Mellon University and Tennessee University both in the next year, and then the University of Chicago from 1945-47.

He was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis, IN.

He married Jane Marie Cox in 1945 and later divorced her in 1979 to marry Jill Krementz.

http://www.vonnegutweb.com/

Blog #10 Quarter 2

I have finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell because I read A LOT this weekend. I don't quite like the ending all that much because it's a little vague as to what happened because Mr. Strange becomes mad for small periods of time to fight with the fairy to get his wife back who is being held captive in the fairy's Castle of Lost Hope. However soon he is surrounded by "eternal night"and all of a sudden the people of England can do all sorts of magic! So what really happened? Where exactly did they get the magic from? It was sort of confusing to me, but I guess in a weird way it made some sense (I still wish that it was explained a little better, but I guess that part of reading is also inferring information yourself). I also don't like how we never actually learn the fairy's name, he's always referred to as "the fairy" or "the gentleman with the thistle-down hair", it's like TV when you never ever get to see the character's face. It's annoying! I also made a connection in the book to when Jonathan Strange is trying to cure King George of his madness. We watched a movie in AP European History about how King George went mad because he had a disease, but I like it when authors try and explain events in history in their book fictionally because I think it makes the story more fun to read because you know what really happened, however the author makes up a much more fun way of what happened. In the novel King George actually goes mad because the fairy wants him to go mad so he can make Stephan Black the King of England. Overall I ended up really liking the book even though I thought it was a little slow at some points.

Blog #9 Quarter 2

The next few chapters in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell are about Mr. Norrell trying to get rid of all of the street magicians. First he tries to get a Department of Magic established in the government, but they tell him that they are in the middle of a long and bloody war, and also that he is currently the only known magician. Therefore they don't have the time nor the resources to spare for 1 single magician. So then he goes to the mayor of London and the mayor agrees to help him pass legislation to get rid of street magicians in London. All of them leave except the most famous and well-loved of the street magicians, Vinculus. Therefore after many attempts to remove Vinculus, Mr. Norrell finally sends Childermass to get rid of him with spells. However Childermass doesn't like Mr. Norrell's methods of getting Vinculus to leave so he decides to deal with him with a different way. A way which I will find out about in my next reading.

Like I mentioned in my previous blog, Mr. Norrell doesn't like the idea of other magicians in the world and I personally find it quite funny that he is so insecure that he needs to get rid of all the fake magicians, who don't even have a hope at doing magic, away from England to therefore boost his standing among others. I also predict that Vinculus will surely be back, because he just seems to be popping up back in the story and I don't think they can leave him alone for the rest of the book (Just like I also think that Mr. Segundas must not have disappeared either because he seemed to be the main character in the 1st few chapters, he was there so much). Also Childermass somewhat gives me the impression that he is much more than just a man who handles some of Mr. Norrell's affairs. He seems too clever and just too mysterious to be just that, so I think that we will be seeing a lot of him also in upcoming chapters.

Blog #8 Quarter 2

I read the next few chapters of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and there has finally been some sort of plot developed! In the chapters I read in the last few days, strange things start to occur. The servants of Lady Pole and Sir Walter Pole start seeing a forest outside the mansion when there isn't a forest for 4 miles. They also start hearing the sad music and seeing a man with lots of white hair and a green velvet coat. Then the head servant of the household, Stephan Black, meets with the man that all the servants seem to be seeing and the man invites Stephan to his ball that the Lady Pole will also be attending. Then the Lady Pole and Stephan Black become more depressed and cold like they are living in a fog and they continuously have dreams of the man and his palace. Well none of this really made sense when I read it and was actually quite creepy, but most of it is explained in later chapters. We learn that the man is actually the fairy that Mr. Norrell called to to help him resurrect the Lady Pole and when he said he was going to take half of the Lady's life he really meant that he would let her stay in the human world and then at night he would pull her into the fairy world, but she became dull, distant, and cold in the human world because to her the human world was so very boring compared to the fairy one. The fairy also pulled Stephan Black along for the ride because he was so impressed with him and the fairy now plans to make Stephan a king in the fairy world. It's sort of confusing to understand, but I like it because the fairy is the closest person I have seen to an antagonist in this story so far. Meanwhile Mr. Norrell is attempting to rid England of all street magicians whom he considers rubbish.

One thing that I found amusing in the book is how Mr. Norrell is so boring to everyone and he even knows it so he keeps Mr. Drawlight and Mr. Lascelles with him at all times and they make small talk with all his visitors, boast about Mr. Norrell's achievements, relay Mr. Norrell's opinions on magic, and they also keep his guests entertained. It's like these two are Mr. Norrell's very own publicity agents!

Not only is Mr. Norrell very boring, but he is also very selfish. He claims to want to bring back magic to England and yet it is mentioned a few times how he doesn't want other magicians in England. So how exactly can he claim to want to restore magic to England? And are all his followers that blinded by his power that they don't see his selfishness and how he doesn't REALLY want to bring magic back to England? It's like they want to support him just because of his power and fame, not his ideas or morals and even though his supporters try their hardest to stand by and follow his supposed "want to bring magic back to England" he doesn't even stand by this idea. It's quite confusing and I don't really think that Mr. Norrell can really be the protagonist of this novel anymore because he seems to have more characteristics of an antagonist. So I think that Mr. Norrell either has to change drastically or another hero must have to appear somewhere in the novel.