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Show THE MOUNTAIN FLOWER MAY 25, 1973 PAGE By NICK SNOW IN PRINT ing various machines around him. And sends eleven people, including Kilgore Trout, to the Vonnegut's Latest Lands A Trout One day last year when I having coffee with some friends, I confessed that I got a d kick out of Kurt Von-and that he was quite Jr. negut, inventive in his storytelling. There was this dilletante at the same table who said, Well, personally, I find (snigger) Vonnegut a little (snigger), kitsch." When I asked him what he meant, ' he just laughed and started talking about Thomas Mann. I dont think he knew what he was saying either. See, Vonnegut has taken to writing in these short bursts . of thought, containing two or three paragraphs. His style, particularly in his last three bodes, has become shockingly informal, yet is heed with an admirable individuality. His characters cross from book to book, as in Faulkner, and the galaxy and the Midwest are his Yoknapatapha County. You may have thought it all came together in Slaughterhouse Five" with nothing more to be said, but Vonnegut saw a tousled white-hairesnaggle-toothe- d loose end. That is the was fair-size- . 1 major reason for BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS (Delacorte PressSeymour Lawrence, 295 pp., $7.95). The loose end is named Trout. He is a science fic tion writer doomed to obscurity by a Vonnegut twist of fete. He can only get his work pub- lished in pornographic magazines which have nothing to do with what he is saying. He has one admirer, an eccentric millionaire named Eliot Rosewater who gets him a speak ing engagement" at the Midland City (Ohio) Arts Festival. Trout arrives at the Midland City Holiday Inn and comes across the gulden opportunity all sen- stive people long for. He gets to drive a new car . 8 in his brain. His wife killed herself some years before by swal- a can of Drano. His son is a homosexual cocktail lounge pianist. And his mistresssec- ret ary can only look out the window after theyve made love speculate on how neat a Kentucky Fried Chicken fran hospital. All this is being observed by Vonnegut himself, who is sit- g ting in the corner of the tail lounge. The reason he is there is that he is nearing his 50th birthday and, just as Jef-ferson heed his slaves and Tolstoi freed his seifs, so he intends to free my characters who have served me so well over the cock-lowin- yean. in Kilgore Trouts shoulder in the Holiday Inn and asks, Whats the answer?, all Kilgore Trout 0111 do is let Dwayne pick up a copy of Now It Can Be Told, Now It Can Be Told is a letter from God to the one sen- stive, feeling human being on Earth, explaining to him that everyone else is an unfeeling machine programmed to do cer- tain things. When he finds this out, Dwayne Hoover starts attack-- , so richly deserves (the synopses of the Trout dots are truly grand). Breakfast of Champions comes nowhere near the mastery of Slaughterhouse Five, Vonne-gut- s best book to date. There are even moments of self-- indulgence that border on the ridiculous, as when the author begins quoting everyones measurements, This is the first illustrated Vonnegut book because, explains die author, I got tired of describing filings. Undoubtedly. he also tired of being- typecast in his literary style, hence the set- ting free of his characters and the promise never again to visit Tralfamadore. We can only his hope attempt at finding a new way is successful In a way, it also spells the deaths of the Vonnegut standbys. No more Eliot Rosewater. No more Billy Pilgrim. No more Books of Bokonon, Winston Niles Rumfoord, Malachi Constant, Paul Proteus or Howard W. Campbell Jr. No more Kilgore Trout or his wild plots, either. - Kilgore Trout is the only one lull telL For die rest, he says, tonight is a night just like any other. Arid then, to overcome Trouts skepticism, he transports him from place to dace until the snaggle toothed old man falls on his knees before his Creator. Here is what Trout calls as Vonnegut walks into his 51st year on Earths Make me young! Make me young! Past the great satisfaction af- forded in seeing Kilgore Trout finally get the recognition he So it goes. Park City Fights Plan For Gondola Utahs Public Service Commission has Park City City Coun- cils resort gondola petition un- der consideration, The Mountain Flower learned earlier this week. Weve reviewed it in light of an opinion from a state attorney general that some gondolas are exempt from common carrier status, executive secretary Ronald Casper said. The petition was filed Fri-da- y by Mayor William Sullivan and members of the city council in response to an announcement by the Park City Resort that it is considering restricting use of the gondola during ski season. The plan is strictly a proposal, according to resort information director Randy Montgomery, and was announced on the advice of attomies. We realize that skiing is growing and that we may have, to restrict the number of peohe ple using the facilities, said. Its something thats being done in other areas and our attorney advised us to go on record with the possibility as soon as we could. The proposal would give preference on. lift use to property owners and tenants in and around Park City, as well as guests using the resorts overnight facilities. As a practical matter,- - we think its at least a couple of years down the road, Montgomery said. Rental unit and property owners wishing priority status may file registration with John Strand at the resort, he added. Registration has to be in by JulY ! Mayor Sullivan said the city council filed the petition requesting the gondola operators be designated common carriers because we will not be intimidated by private individuals e not concerned with the of and problems planning Park City but, instead, concern themselves solely with 'short term profits. ...AAD, THEf ARE MlLDl 0N AOOmONl VARIETY OF SO-CALL- record ED also UNUSUAL we OFFER A SPECTACULAR. Selection of BT M.C.ESCMER, DALI fi- ALLYDUR FAVORITES'), AS WELL AS A WIDE "COdlX." FUN MY BOOKS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS WITH A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE BJZZARE. TO SMOOfM, ROUND, THE FINEST POSTERS fir PRINTS (INCLUDING- - WORKS ART-RELA- - lED long-rang- ' 5AU LAKE CITY 84111 -- HOURS 1 miO I0M. |