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Summary: Kurt Vonnegut did not write this book. (article explains)
Review: The following is excerpted from Edger Chapman, The Magic Labyrinth of Philip Jose Farmer, (San Bernardino: Borgo Press, 1984) 64-65. Farmer's most important parody and fictional author story is Venus On The Half-Shell (1975), published by Dell books under the byline "Kilgore Trout." Trout is Vonnegut's itinerant, impoverished science fiction author, a prophet despised and without honor in his own country. A strong admirer of Vonnegut, Farmer has also confessed to a deep identification with Trout (who was actually suggested by Theodore Sturgeon). The identification was strengthened by many things: Farmer's own years as a struggling science fiction author in the early and middle stages of his career; Farmer's experience as a misunderstood social critic; and Farmer's identification with pornography as an Essex House author, a fate that plagued Trout. Finally, not long after Farmer had returned to Peoria, he was accused in 1970 of having written a letter signed "Trout" in the Peoria Journal Star criticizing President Nixon's Vietnam policy-another ironic identification of Farmer and Trout. (The letter is believed to have actually been penned by a college student.) At any rate, Farmer, when afflicted with a temporary writer's block, conceived the idea of writing one of Trout's nonexistent novels and publishing it under Trout's name. He obtained Vonnegut's permission and went to work. When Venus on the Half-Shell was published by Dell, with Farmer wearing a false beard and a Confederate hat as a disguise on the back cover, the book was a ninety-day wonder, until Farmer's authorship, which Farmer made little effort to conceal, became known. Although the novel brought Farmer some unaccustomed notoriety (and made Vonnegut regret giving his permission to the project), the revelation of Farmer's authorship created a tendency to dismiss the work as simply an amusing parody and literary hoax. An additional irony in this episode has been Vonnegut's claim in a recent interview with Charles Platt (recorded in a book published in 1980) that Farmer failed to avow his authorship of Venus for a long period, presumably in the hope that sales would be increased by association with Vonnegut's reputation. This allegation, however, is not borne out by fact: Farmer told numerous friends, colleagues, and fans of his authorship; in fact, he informed the present writer of it when Venus was appearing as a serial in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Vonnegut's reaction is perhaps not surprising, since Trout is his invention. But when Vonnegut professes to feel anxiety that Farmer's book may somehow have harmed his literary reputation, it is hard to take him seriously. Such concern might have been better devoted to the effect of Vonnegut's self-indulgent seventies novels, Breakfast of Champions and Slapstick. Divorced from topicality and controversy, Venus On The Half-Shell can be read as a lively satirical anatomy, an absurdist novel that manages to parody Vonnegut while ridiculing human pretentiousness and our persistent search for metaphysical answers in an irrational universe. . . As a satire, Venus On The Half-Shell has many excellent moments, but it contrasts sharply with Vonnegut's work. Whereas Vonnegut is Juvenalian or Swiftian in his tone, his work suggesting genuine misanthropy, Farmer is a genial Horatian satirist here. There seems to be more readiness to accept the limitations of human life in Farmer, more hopefulness about the human capacity to enjoy life, even if dreams and ideals are for the most part doomed to not to be realized completely.
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Summary: Where are all the old copies of the book going to?
Review: This is a book that I read in the early 1980's for recreational reading while I was a college undergrad I really enjoyed it and wanted to read it again a number of months later. But, I let someone borrow my copy and never got it back. This is happened to me like many others who have also responded in this forum. I never could remember who I let borrow that book. I also was not able to get another copy where I originally purchased the book. Perhaps Vonnegut was secretly trying to get all of the copies of Venus on the Half-Shell one by one because of his displeasure with Farmer's work? The mystery continues, but at least now I can get another copy.
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Summary: Great book, but don't buy this printing
Review: This is a classic sci-fi farce, bringing to life a fictional book originally described in Vonnegut's "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater", while making fun of sci-fi, Vonnegut's early writing style, and generally delivering on the premise that Vonnegut creates for Kilgore Trout. The trouble with this hardcover binding is: 1) It's hardcover, which isn't how Vonnegut described the book to begin with, and 2) It lacks essential cover features described by Vonnegut, such as the ridiculous photo of Trout that appears on the back cover of the paperback. So don't buy this in hardcover; seek out a used copy of the paperback edition.
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Summary: Great book, but don't buy this printing
Review: This is a classic sci-fi farce, bringing to life a fictional book originally described in Vonnegut's "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater", while making fun of sci-fi, Vonnegut's early writing style, and generally delivering on the premise that Vonnegut creates for Kilgore Trout. The trouble with this hardcover binding is: 1) It's hardcover, which isn't how Vonnegut described the book to begin with, and 2) It lacks essential cover features described by Vonnegut, such as the ridiculous photo of Trout that appears on the back cover of the paperback. So don't buy this in hardcover; seek out a used copy of the paperback edition.
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Summary: Kilgore Trout Lives!
Review: This is one of those books we hear whispered rumors about for years. Just when you assume that it does not, and never did exist, you stumble across an actual copy while browsing in an out-of-the-way shop. There are some that will tell you that Kilgore Trout doesn't exist- don't listen to them. These are the same naysayers that will tell you that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Illuminati do not exist.
The book itself tells the cosmic myth of The Space Wanderer, who roams the universe seeking the answer to the Ultimate Question: "Why are we created only to suffer and die?" Through adventures on many planets over many years he finally finds his answer. Fittingly, it is the last sentence of the narrative.
I was strongly reminded of Doug Adams's _A Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ while reading this classic. Then I checked the date of publication- I am pretty sure that this is where Adams got the idea. One more instance of Kilgore Trout being shafted by life....
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Summary: It has BALLS!
Review: This is the book that will tickle everyone who has ever wondered about fate, chance, the meaning of life, and when will I get laid again. That's pretty much everybody. With any luck, this book will encourage you to see the stupidity, irony, and just plain "black-lung humor" in your own life. Maybe it'll even inspire you to write a song or two. Don't even think of dying until you have read this book!
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Summary: SHAGGY DOG ON A QUEST IS BEST DISGUISED, I GUESS!
Review: This is the ultimate shaggy dog story. It leads you thru much gratuitous interplanetary sex disguised as a sort of angst-ridden vision quest with one of those "I shoulda known" endings. Personally, I loved it because it was the Kilgore Trout novel I longed to read. I just gave it a "5" because I think Kilgore would be insulted by any higher rating. I don't really believe that PJ Farmer and K. Vonnegut exist...Kilgore just wrote good stuff under those names to make money and gain fans like me. He saved his most ridiculous perspective and sublimely sadistic sense of humor for this one book nobody can get hold of anymore. I lost mine at least 20 years ago, sigh
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Summary: Why not?
Review: This one by Trout is every bit as good as his classic "2BR02B" or his "Maniacs in the Fourth Dimension". (...)
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Summary: Not what I expected
Review: This seems more like someone trying to write like Kurt Vonnegut, this is not Kurt Vonnegut, it is Philip Jose Farmer. If I knew this I would have purchased a real Vonnegut book.
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Summary: The Alias of a Man with an Alias.
Review: Trout a.k.a. Vonnegot a.k.a. P.J. Farmer is a suffering man.
His disease is one of the spirit: always in seach of the Answer and always shunned. The novel if the tale of a journey, mostly into oneself, filled with pain and wonders; the finale is an answer that only the strongest can accept
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