Kurt Vonnegut

　　Amber 1:  Hello, I'm Amber Barnfather and you're listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

　　In Entertainment today, we learn about one of the outstanding writers of

　　modern American literature, Kurt Vonnegut, who died on the 11  of April,

　　aged 2 84.

　　We hear extracts from an interview with Dr Sarah Churchwell who teaches

　　American literature at the University of East Anglia. She talks about why

　　Vonnegut's work is so admired, and why you might like to read it.

　　Kurt Vonnegut was initially 3 considered to be a Science Fiction writer but the

　　world of literature really began to sit up and take notice in 1969 when he

　　published Slaughterhouse Five. This novel combines time travel fantasy with

　　Vonnegut's own experiences in the German city of Dresden during the Second

　　World War – he was a captured American solider when Dresden was destroyed.

　　Like many of Vonnegut's novels, Slaughterhouse Five, contains a repeated

　　phrase: 'so it goes' – it's an expression of resignation, of accepting something

　　you don't like but cannot change, and it helps convey a quiet but very powerful

　　belief in the utter pointlessness of war.

　　Slaughterhouse Five is Vonnegut's best-known book, although he wrote 14

　　novels and many essays and short stories. Here's Dr Sarah Churchwell

　　describing Vonnegut's impact and 'legacy 4' (his lasting 5 importance) in

　　American literature.

　　As you listen, try to catch the plural 6 noun Sarah uses for something that you

　　say or write which shows your admiration 7 for someone. She says these are

　　'springing up all over the place right now' for Vonnegut - they are appearing

　　quickly and in large numbers, like flowers in spring.

　　Dr Sarah Churchwell

　　'I think there's no question that he influenced a great many of the people who are writing

　　today – they've testified to that fact in, you know, numerous tributes that are springing up all

　　over the place right now, very rapidly. I saw, earlier today, that his Wikipedia entry had over

　　250 edits since he died so people are really jumping in to talk about him – there's no question

　　how much he influenced people.

　　I think that his legacy was probably that he brought a certain kind of American satire 8 back

　　into fashion and that he reminded America that an important part of democracy was to

　　criticise 9 your government.'

　　Amber:  Did you catch it? Sarah says that many ('numerous') 'tributes' are being

　　written for Vonnegut. For example, people are writing about him in Wikipedia,

　　a free online encyclopaedia 10 which is written by users.

　　Listen again and try to catch the expression Sarah uses twice to emphasise 11 her

　　view that Vonnegut was an influential 12 writer.

　　Dr Sarah Churchwell

　　'I think there's no question that he influenced a great many of the people who are writing

　　today – they've testified to that fact in, you know, numerous tributes that are springing up all

　　over the place right now, very rapidly. I saw, earlier today, that his Wikipedia entry had over

　　250 edits since he died so people are really jumping in to talk about him – there's no question

　　how much he influenced people.

　　I think that his legacy was probably that he brought a certain kind of American satire back

　　into fashion and that he reminded America that an important part of democracy was to

　　criticise your government.'

　　Amber:  Sarah says 'there's no question …' that Vonnegut was an influential writer.

　　She also explains that his 'legacy' was that he made a certain kind of 'satire',

　　of criticising things in a humorous way, popular again – he brought it 'back

　　into fashion'. She says he also 'reminded America that an important part of

　　democracy was to criticise your government.'

　　Now Sarah talks about why Vonnegut is such a clever writer, an inventive

　　and ingenious writer. She says he's more than just a Science Fiction writer –

　　he's 'certainly not limited to Science Fiction'.

　　As you listen, notice the expression 'a throwaway thought' which Sarah

　　uses to explain that amazing thoughts came easily to Vonnegut.

　　Dr Sarah Churchwell

　　'Everybody acknowledges his incredible inventiveness. In one of his novels, there's this

　　fabulous 13 idea that the Chinese are shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and eventually

　　everybody starts inhaling 14 them and everybody gets allergies 15, and I mean, it's such an amazing

　　idea right there, and that's a throwaway thought for Vonnegut, so I think that his ingenuity 16

　　leant itself to Science Fiction but it was certainly not limited to Science Fiction.'

　　Amber:  Now here's a list of the language we focussed on in the programme today.

　　an expression of resignation

　　legacy

　　springing up all over the place

　　numerous tributes

　　Wikipedia

　　there's no question …

　　satire

　　to bring something back into fashion

　　a throwaway thought