What The B@@K? #21 Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Breakfast of Champions Link

Video?! VIDEO! We have video meow! But don’t worry, there’s still audio only options!

What’s Breakfast of Champions About?

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut is centered on two main characters: Kilgore Trout, science fiction writer known for obscurity, and Dwayne Hoover, a wealthy Pontiac dealer in Midland City near a nervous breakdown. The book builds towards a fateful meeting between the two at an arts festival as it satirizes the American Dream and social issues of the time. Trout, invited to speak at the festival, finds some of his writings are taken literally by Hoover, leading to a violent outburst where Hoover attacks several people thinking Trout’s fictional ideas are reality. This sends Trout into the limelight, resulting in a Nobel Prize, while Hoover’s mental state continues to deteriorate. This reflects the novel’s exploration of mental health and societal pressures.

Vonnegut’s writing in Breakfast of Champions is unconventional, marked by authorial intrusions where he breaks the fourth wall to address the reader directly, seemingly half edited, and including crude illustrations to replace descriptive text. The approach enhances the satirical tone, critiquing America’s obsession with materialism, racism, and environmental destruction that pervaded in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In addition, the story dives into existential themes, with characters struggling with the meaning of life and their place in the universe.

Some themes to be discussed in the full-length podcast:

• Satire of American Society

  • Materialism, racism, environment, and the American Dream

• The Artist’s (and the Art’s) Role

  • Art is often overlooked and rarely valued, the Artist struggling for recognition and questioning society’s perception of creativity

• Free will & Determinism

  • The classic question of if humans genuinely have freewill or if our actions are predetermined

Want to know what we’re up to next for this podcast to read ahead?

1. May: Animal Farm by George Orwell (Linked Dual Book with 1984)

2. June: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

3. July: Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

Questions & Conversation Starters:

In no particular order (reference pages may vary by edition), let us know what you think in the comments section on any/all topics and questions!

1. Is everyone truly conscious like we see ourselves?

2. Would mankind really build an unselfish society without our desire for procreation related activities?

3. Almost as a rule, humans wish for escape from the metaphorical cage we’re in only to realize the grass isn’t greener and flee back to the cage for safety. But why do we do it?

4. What is the purpose of Life according to Kilgore Trout?

5. A comment by a random bystander (Trout) led to a newspaper run a story with a headline which led to a new gang making the myth reality…welcome to modern media (and podcasting)!?

6. Is God a conservationist? Does the Bible even touch on the topic in relation to nature explicitly or implicitly?

7. Is Kurt making fun of himself as a writer through Kilgore Trout and via the Creator of the Universe both in Trout’s book and this book?

   1. We get an answer later in the book! The Creator of the Universe comes down to Kilgore Trout and explains what he’s doing, in a roundabout way.

8. One random thing I noticed, there was an extra “defunct” a few times throughout the book. Does anyone know why other than it being a glitch in the matrix?

Questions and ideas we didn’t get to:

1. Vonnegut addresses the plight of the landowners in rural areas whose mineral rights don’t belong to them. Isn’t history repeating itself with digital privacy and property?

Standout Lines:

• “It is harder to be unhappy when you are eating Craig’s Ice Cream.”

• “I am going to set at liberty all the literary characters who have served me so loyally during my writing career.”

Top Books We’re Thinking About Next:

1. Paradise Lost by John Milton (Craig will do webisode)

2. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

3. When Mockingbirds Sing by Billy Coffey is a novel that falls under the genre of Supernatural Fiction. It's a story of a young girl with a special gift and the mysterious events that surround her.

4. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig is a novel that falls under the genre of Philosophical Fiction. It's a thought-provoking exploration of the nature of quality the meaning of life.

5. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is a novel that falls under the genre of Adventure Fiction. It's a classic story about a boy who discovers a treasure map and sets out on a quest.

6. (added by listener request) What If the Constitution Was Never Ratified? By Chuck DeVore

7. TBD – Send us recommendations by commenting!

8. TBD – Send us recommendations by commenting!

9. TBD – Send us recommendations by commenting!

10. TBD – Send us recommendations by commenting!

Season 2 Book List:

1. September: How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe is a novel that falls under the genre of Fantasy. It's a humorous story about a group of adventurers who set out to defeat a demon king.

2. October: Shadow of the Hegemon by OSC

3. November: The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

   • The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is a classic novel that falls under the genre of Science Fiction. It's the story of a scientist who invents a time machine and travels to the future.

4. December: Emergence (by me! Craig T. Stewart) interview with a special guest!

5. January: Anthem by Ayn Rand

6. February: The Emperors Soul by Brandon Sanderson

7. March: Lost Horizon by James Hilton

8. April: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

9. May: Animal Farm by George Orwell (Linked Dual Book with 1984)

10. June: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

11. July: Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card

12. August: TBD