Red Key Tavern

Buzzfeed recently released a list of the Top 12 Historic Bars Every Book Nerd Needs to Visit. Among the notable locations are the infamous Bird and the Baby (Eagle and Child) in Oxford where Tolkien and Lewis used to meet with the Inklings. Then there's Heminway's hangout, El Flordita in Cuba and the Beat hot spot Vesuvio in San Francisco. Imagine my surprise when I saw an Indianapolis bar as #10 on that list!

 

"Die-hard Vonnegut fans will want to add this one to their next road trip. The no-nonsense bar — opened by a WWII Veteran and Prisoner of War, and decorated with model airplanes hanging from the ceiling — is said to have been Vonnegut’s favorite watering hole, with many regulars claiming to have seen him writing and drinking in his booth. The tavern also made an appearance in Dan Wakefield’s 1970 novel Going All The Way."

 

 

I'd actually been to some of the other bars, but never the one in my own hometown! Obviously I needed to check it out. I'd driven past the hole-in-the-wall spot  hundreds of times when I lived in the neighborhood a few years ago.

 

When I finally visited the first thing I heard when I walked through the door was, "Oh my gosh, we have a real customer!" The comment was more for the amusement of the regulars at the bar than for me, but I still laughed. The small place has a few tables and antique model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. The original owner's son and granddaughter were at the bar. 

 

My friend and I got a drink and enjoyed the atmosphere. It's a cool place, one that clearly hasn't changed in decades. You can absolutely picture Vonnegut nursing a drink while working his way through a pack of his beloved Pall Malls. My only complaint is that there's not a single reference to him in the place. Obviously it's not something the regulars care too much about, but for people stopping in after a trip to the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library it might be a disappointment.

 

Photos by moi.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

by Kurt Vonnegut

★★★★

Vonnegut’s only play is about Harold Ryan, a hunter, soldier and all-around “man’s man.” He left his family a decade before the play begins to search for diamonds in the Amazon. He has since been declared dead and his wife and son have been trying to make a life for themselves without him. Penelope (aptly named because she waits 10 years for her husbands return) and her son Paul are shocked when Harold turns up on their doorstep.

No one is more surprised than the two men that Penelope has been dating: a vacuum salesman named Herb Shuttle and the peaceful doctor, Norbert Woodly. Penelope’s life is thrown into chaos with her husband’s return. His cruel and brash ways are ill suited for life outside the jungle.

The three-act play is soaked with Vonnegut’s trademark wit and sarcasm. It’s a harsh look at men who pride themselves as warriors vs. men who value peace. I had the opportunity to see it performed as a live reading at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library and then I read a hardcopy. It was interesting to note that the theatre company doing the reading chose to end the play in a different way than it ends in the book.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s not Vonnegut’s best work, but it’s hard to find and reading it back-to-back with a viewing of a live reading was such a treat. If you already love Vonnegut than read it if you have the chance!

Photo of play reading by moi.

Bookishness Around Town: Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library

This month's Where in the World Are You Reading theme is Bookishness Around Town, hosted by Trish. My town is Indianapolis and there aren’t too many famous authors who originated here. The most famous, by far is Kurt Vonnegut and a couple years ago the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library was opened in his honor. It’s really more of a small museum than a library, but anyway that’s what my bookish post is about! Above you can see the front of the building and Vonnegut’s actual typewriter.

The famously sarcastic author was taken by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II and survived the Dresden bombing. His fictional alter ego, Kilgore Trout famously said the line “Life is no way to treat an animal,” and Vonnegut included it in his ever-optimistic style… on a tombstone.

  

My favorite section has a recreation of his workspace; a low coffee table that he would slump over and his tapped away to create his novels. They included every detail, from his rooster lamp, to his choice of chair. There is also a gallery containing artwork drawn by Vonnegut and inspired by him. It has an interactive TV with interviews regarding Vonnegut’s life.

There’s a long mural timeline along one wall noting important dates throughout history. A couple glass exhibit cases include his war medals and family letters, photos and memorabilia.

  

So thanks to Trish for hosting Where in the World are you Reading. If any of you make it to my corner of the world I hope you’ll make sure to visit the Hoosier state’s ode to Vonnegut.

Here are the details: Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library: 340 N Senate Ave Indianapolis, IN 46204

Photos of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library by moi. 

Cat's Cradle

Cat’s Cradle 

by Kurt Vonnegut

★★★★☆

Vonnegut’s novel poking fun at both war and religion is clever on so many levels. He captures the absurdity of creating an atomic bomb in the same way Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 tackles the subject of war. We seem hell-bent on insuring our own destruction.

Our narrator is researching the fictional inventor of the atom bomb, Felix Hoenikker, and he learns more about his background through his strange son, Newton Hoenikker. Throughout the book cat’s cradle, a children’s yarn game, is used to show the meaninglessness of things. When looking at the overlapping lines of string Newton points out that there is no cat or cradle in the designs. Newton’s constant refrain…

“See the cat? See the cradle?”

… echoes through our minds as Vonnegut moves on to talk about the fictional religion, Bokononism. It’s a strange blend of cynical beliefs and nonsensical rituals and is practiced by the people who live on the remote island of San Lorenzo. In Vonnegut’s classic style, the belief system contradicts itself, overlapping forbidden laws and absurd practices. Vonnegut’s satire of religion is rivaled only by his mocking of the invention of weapons, in this case Ice-9, a weapon which freezes all the oceans of the world.

Vonnegut’s life was filled with tragedy; his mother’s suicide, sister’s death and his time as a prisoner of war in Germany. Yet despite all the horrors he experienced, he still had an irrepressible sense of humor. Sure, it’s an incredibly dark sense of humor, but it’s there.

BOTTOM LINE: One of my favorite Vonnegut novels, there is less of the extraterrestrial and more social commentary in this book. You don’t have to agree with all of his beliefs to appreciate his skill. If you’re a fan of Catch-22 I think you’d particularly enjoy this one.

“When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed.”

“She hated people who thought too much. At that moment she struck me as an appropriate representative for almost all mankind.”

“The highest possible form of treason is to say that Americans aren’t loved wherever they go, whatever they do.”

*Drawing of Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut from the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library