Some Thoughts on Authors' Perceptions of Their Roles and Their Work

We've talked about some of the ways that "the collapse of the 4th wall" shows a persona of an author engaging in the process of writing.

Taking about postmodernism in an interview, Dave Eggers has said:

"I've always been interested in the form itself, so I always feel like I've never been good at going ahead with the artifice and not acknowledging the self in the artistic process, and not acknowledging the absurdity of pretending that's required in fiction. I always had a hard time with fiction. It does feel like driving a car in a clown suit. You're going somewhere, but you're in costume, and you're not really fooling anybody. You're the guy in costume, and everybody's supposed to forget that and go along with you. Obviously, it can work, it works all the time—well, it doesn't always work. Still, no matter what, I'm always looking at the form and addressing it, not ignoring it."

Where do we see similar types of comments from Kurt Vonnegut about his work in the preface to Breakfast of Champions?

Check out what one of Vonnegut's daughters, Edie, wrote about him on Vonnegut's official website after he died:

"I never expected Kurt to actually die. He was supposed to break the code and live forever. I’m pretty disillusioned right now. When I was very young, like 12, I went to his study to ask him for answers to this world. He said he didn’t know any more than I did and that he was experiencing everything I was at the very same time. I think it was during the Cuban missile crisis and I was scared. He said he didn’t have a clue. From there on out I regarded him as a fellow clueless comrade who had no extra advantage or wisdom above me. He pulled no rank as ‘Father’ and for that I am eternally grateful.

Though he was the smartest man I ever met and I am rather limited.

Even so he made me feel equal at a very early age and taught me to question authority where ever I found it."

How does this anecdote about the Cuban missile crisis match up with the persona that Vonnegut constructs of himself in his writing? How do you think some of the other details from Vonnegut's life (read the Rolling Stone article in your course pack) influenced his outlook or his writing style?