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Lucky Mud & Other Foma: A Field Guide to Kurt Vonnegut's Environmentalism and Planetary Citizenship
A fascinating deep dive into Kurt Vonnegut’s oeuvre and legacy, illuminating his unique perspective on environmental stewardship and our shared connections as humans, Earthlings, and stardust.
Vonnegut’s major apocalyptic trio—Cat’s Cradle, Slapstick, and Galápagos—prompt broad global, national, and species-level thinking about environmental issues through dramatic and fantastic scenarios. This book, Lucky Mud and Other Foma, tells the story of the origins and legacy of what Kurt Vonnegut understood as “planetary citizenship” and explores key roots, influences, literary techniques, and artistic expressions of his interest in environmental activism through his writing.
Vonnegut saw writing itself as an act of good citizenship, as a way of “poisoning” the minds of young people “with humanity . . . to encourage them to make a better world.” Often that literary activism meant addressing real social and environmental problems—polluted water, soil, and air; racial and economic injustice; isolating and dehumanizing technologies; and lives and landscapes desolated by war. Vonnegut’s remedies took many forms, from the redemptive power of the arts to artificial extended families to vital communities and engaged democracies. Reminding us of our shared connections as humans, as Earthlings, as stardust, Lucky Mud helps fans, scholars, and book lovers of all kinds experience how Vonnegut’s writings purposely challenge readers to think, create, and love.
Vonnegut’s major apocalyptic trio—Cat’s Cradle, Slapstick, and Galápagos—prompt broad global, national, and species-level thinking about environmental issues through dramatic and fantastic scenarios. This book, Lucky Mud and Other Foma, tells the story of the origins and legacy of what Kurt Vonnegut understood as “planetary citizenship” and explores key roots, influences, literary techniques, and artistic expressions of his interest in environmental activism through his writing.
Vonnegut saw writing itself as an act of good citizenship, as a way of “poisoning” the minds of young people “with humanity . . . to encourage them to make a better world.” Often that literary activism meant addressing real social and environmental problems—polluted water, soil, and air; racial and economic injustice; isolating and dehumanizing technologies; and lives and landscapes desolated by war. Vonnegut’s remedies took many forms, from the redemptive power of the arts to artificial extended families to vital communities and engaged democracies. Reminding us of our shared connections as humans, as Earthlings, as stardust, Lucky Mud helps fans, scholars, and book lovers of all kinds experience how Vonnegut’s writings purposely challenge readers to think, create, and love.
- GenresNonfiction
480 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 22, 2022
11 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 18, 2024
Excellent! Traces Vonnegut’s environmentalism throughout his life and works (including great research into his drafts). This book paired with “Behaving Decently” (on Vonnegut’s Humanism) illuminate and give context to the primary things I love about KV’s writing. Highly recommended for both fans and scholars. Extensive end notes and index for reference.
January 21, 2023
On the surface, Vonnegut's work can sometimes seem like a whimsical, Black Mirror-esque fantasy, but the truth is much more complex. In many ways, Vonnegut was a visionary using his work to discuss current events and introduce futuristic ideas that were often provocative and groundbreaking for his time. The appeal, for many, has been his work's accessibility and relatability to the general public, but as "Lucky Mud & Other Foma" shows, Vonnegut took great care in crafting his messages.
With climate change and the vast complexity of the modern, international world—one can't help but appreciate the timeliness of this field guide to Vonnegut's environmentalism and planetary citizenship. As someone who has read most of Vonnegut's work, the extensive research Jarvis put into "Lucky Mud & Other Foma" has reshaped how I understand the author, his stories, and my place in the world.
We have a responsibility to each other and the world around us, and for the first time, someone has offered the world a fuller picture of this literary icon's life, mind, and process.
"The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life… [We] must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. "- Preamble to The Earth Charter
With climate change and the vast complexity of the modern, international world—one can't help but appreciate the timeliness of this field guide to Vonnegut's environmentalism and planetary citizenship. As someone who has read most of Vonnegut's work, the extensive research Jarvis put into "Lucky Mud & Other Foma" has reshaped how I understand the author, his stories, and my place in the world.
We have a responsibility to each other and the world around us, and for the first time, someone has offered the world a fuller picture of this literary icon's life, mind, and process.
"The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life… [We] must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. "- Preamble to The Earth Charter
September 29, 2023
Those who are not major fans of Vonnegut probably would not find themselves reading this, but for those who love his novels, it's a thoroughly researched and quite readable examination. Jarvis knows his books intimately, and looks at Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos and Cat's Cradle, among others, and details the themes within related to helping save our planet and doing a better job of living on it.
August 7, 2023
Great survey of Kurt Vonnegut's bibliography through an uncommon lens. Dr. Jarvis ties together textual analysis, forensic study of early drafts and key biographical details to offer up a new and vital way to approach the canon. If you're a casual fan then it's accessible enough to be a useful field guide and if you're a devotee then you should have this book.
March 5, 2023
An interesting and entertaining account of the common threads that have run through KVJ's work. A great look at the preoccupations that have guided him through his greatest works of literature and advocacy.
March 22, 2025
“The United States of America was now ruled, evidently, by a small clique of power brokers who believed that most Americans were so boring and ungifted and small time that they could be slain by the tens of thousands without inspiring any longer-term regrets on the part of anyone.”
January 1, 2023
Simply awesome, what a cool, in depth study of Vonnegut. I need to go spend some time in the archives at the Lilly Library. Can't recommend this book enough for Vonnegut fanatics.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews