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We Are What We Pretend to Be: The First and Last WorksCalled our finest black humorist by The Atlantic Monthly, Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Now his first and last works come together for the first time in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, We Are What We Pretend To Be. Written to be sold under the pseudonym of Mark Harvey, Basic Training was never published in Vonnegut s lifetime. It appears to have been written in the late 1940s
Called our finest black-humorist by The Atlantic Monthly, Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Now his first and last works come together for the first time in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, We Are What We Pretend To Be.Written to be sold under the pseudonym of Mark Harvey, Basic Training was never published in Vonnegut s lifetime. It appears to have been written in the late 1940s and is therefore Vonnegut s first ever novella. It is a bitter, profoundly disenchanted story that satirizes the military, authoritarianism, gender relationships, parenthood and most of the assumed mid-century myths of the family. Haley Brandon, the adolescent protagonist, comes to the farm of his relative, the old crazy who insists upon being called The General, to learn to be a straight-shooting American. Haley s only means of survival will lead him to unflagging defiance of the General s deranged (but oh so American, oh so military) values. This story and its thirtyish author were no friends of the milieu to which the slick magazines advertisers were pitching their products.
When Vonnegut passed away in 2007, he left his last novel unfinished. Entitled If God Were Alive Today, this last work is a brutal satire on societal ignorance and carefree denial of the world s major problems. Protagonist Gil Berman is a middle-aged college lecturer and self-declared stand-up comedian who enjoys cracking jokes in front of a college audience while societal dependence on fossil fuels has led to the apocalypse. Described by Vonnegut as, the stand-up comedian on Doomsday, Gil is a character formed from Vonnegut s own rich experiences living in a reality Vonnegut himself considered inevitable.
Along with the two works of fiction, Vonnegut s daughter, Nanette shares reminiscences about her father and commentary on these two works both exclusive to this edition. In this fiction collection, published in print for the first time, exist Vonnegut s grand themes: trust no one, trust nothing; and the only constants are absurdity and resignation, which themselves cannot protect us from the void but might divert."
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Published: 10/08/2013
ISBN: 9780306822780
Pages: 161
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.56w x 0.47d
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★★★★★ 5
WORKS GREAT
Color: White
VERY BEAUTIFUL
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Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2026
★★★★★ 1
Very thin hollow plastic
Color: White
Didn’t last long. The wind knocked it down and snapped one of the wings off. The mold was hollow and the plastic was very flimsy.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2026
★★★★★ 5
The Perfect Angel for any Spot
Super cute! Gave my garden the perfect touch! The lighting is pretty bright too.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2025
★★★★★ 2
Doesn’t stay lit
Color: White
Stays lit for 20 minutes Very disappointed
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Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Pretty and functional solar lighted angel statue
Color: White
Pretty solar lighted angel statue that is perfect for garden or cemetery memorial. Charges during the day and turns on automatically at night. It is a good weight that, if set up properly, will not easily tip over. It is also a nice size, not tiny. I am not typically a big fan of this type of thing but this one is very nice.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2025