Literary Video of the Day – Kurt Vonnegut: So It Goes (BBC Documentary, 1983).

Kurt Vonnegut: So It Goes, is a 1983 documentary produced by the BBC and directed by Nigel Finch. It's one of only a handful of decent docs about the magnificent writer. In it, he talks about his 50-year career, reading extracts from his novels in his deadpan drawl. He looks back at his early days of writing for magazines – specifically his back-and-forth correspondence with editors – and how it taught him the craft of storytelling. He also mentions how he introduced comical sci-fi elements into Slaughterhouse-Five. Not an easy thing to do when your book’s solemn subject is the horrific bombing of Dresden in WWII. Here it is in full: