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Found a wild fact about a famous author's day job before they got big | Book Club Debates - Topic Shares

Found a wild fact about a famous author's day job before they got big

I was reading a biography of Kurt Vonnegut for our club's 'Slaughterhouse-Five' meeting next month. I always pictured him as a full-time writer, you know? But the book said he worked as a publicist for General Electric in Schenectady, New York, for almost three years in the late 1940s. He literally wrote press releases about new science stuff, like ice-melting machines. It blew my mind that the guy who wrote such weird, anti-war books spent his days selling the wonders of big industry. It makes you see his later work in a whole new light. I'm torn between thinking that job gave him a sharp view of how companies talk, or that it just made him hate that world even more. Has anyone else stumbled on an author's past job that totally changed how you read their books?

3 comments

3 Comments

thea2467mo ago

Yeah, that "sharp view of how companies talk" is EVERYWHERE now. It feels like we all have a day job that teaches us to see through the official story.

schmidt.amy6mo ago

Look at the official social media for any big brand now. It's not some clever trick, it's just clear communication. When a company says they're "excited to announce a new chapter," they mean they're launching a product. That's not hiding anything, it's just professional language. Most people in those jobs aren't trying to trick you, they're just following a style guide to sound consistent. Getting mad at that is like getting mad at a waiter for using restaurant terms.

james6617mo ago

Remember reading that Harper Lee was a ticket agent for an airline. It makes that whole "watchman" thing feel less like a made up title and more like a real job she saw people do. You start to see all the waiting and watching in her book differently.