We Never Danced Cheek to Cheek: The Young Kurt Vonnegut in Indianapolis and Beyond by Majie Alford Failey
Kurt Vonnegut’s hometown of Indianapolis affected his life and writing in signific¬ant ways, from settings in books to viewpoints and speech patterns. Certainly his attitude towards his hometown and state evolved. Vonnegut went through phases of appreciation for his home and high school in nostalgic moments to distrust and distaste for everything Hoosier at moments when he felt his writing had been rejected.
Hawthorne’s new release We Never Danced Cheek to Cheek: The Young Kurt Vonnegut in Indianapolis and Beyond by Majie Failey is a journey through the life of this member of the Class of 1940—with all of its carefree existence and its abrupt graduation into war. This book by one of Kurt’s lifelong, closest friends digs deeply into intimate moments, days, and years of the famous writer’s youth. Here are stories and photos never before seen from scrapbooks, issues of the Shortridge Echo where Kurt was an editor, childhood art and writing pieces, journals from his Owls Club road trips to the far west and Florida and insights into his family. And beyond high school, this is the story of the consistent, kind concern of this Pulitzer-Prize winning author for his old friends, the support he gave as the Class of ’40 all grew older, and bittersweet moments as he himself confided his concerns over career and aging to his friends.
This is a sometimes rollicking, often poignant look behind the doors of schools, playgrounds, and the sunny porches of friends to see what Kurt Vonnegut the boy and man was really like as a human being.
Kurt and his friends founded the Owls Club outside the high school club structure to both parallel and satirize the typical HS “frat” system. Here’s an excerpt from the book:
The Owls Club came from a comic strip in the old Indianapolis Times called “Our Boarding House,” which featured a fat old character named Major Hoople. Hoople belonged to the Owls Club Lodge and it seemed appropriate to the members to call themselves after the funny-papers club. They were to stay together for life.
160 pages (including 60 photographs and 12 color pages)
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9841456-9-0 $25.00
Softbound ISBN: 978-0-9841456-8-3 $18.00
ORDER BEFORE MARCH 1, 2011 and RECEIVE $3.00 off each copy |
