Mother Night: A Novel
by Kurt Vonnegut
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Book Reviews of Mother Night: A Novel
Book Review: Why They Read Vonnegut
Summary: 3 Stars
I take my title from a piece by Kurt Vonnegut, "Why They Read Hesse." The "they" was the youth of America. His answer was that Hesse tells them the things they want to hear, like bad is bad. He forgot to also stress, if I remember correctly, that Hesse writes in simple sentences with few words. You can read it on a bus or a treadmill at the gym. Complexity and intellectual challenge aren't the main things here.
Vonnegut himself was a lot like that, and Mother Night is maybe the clearest example of this. It is a morality tale with all the ambiguity and subtlety of a topless bar. He starts with a conventional, but interesting, dilemma, that of the undercover agent who is two things at once, and the question is whether the inner is more real than the outer simply because it is inner. Vonnegut as usual attempts to cut this Gordian knot of the demands of duty with the sword of his 1960s hippy morality. And it's not such a bad approach--do no evil, don't think about the big picture, we are what we pretend to be.
So the protagonist willingly accepts his punishment as a traitor despite having the exonerating evidence at hand because he realizes he was what he pretended to be--that his pretend acts had real results. That works great--a "good" person pretended to be "bad" and so did "bad" things and hence was really bad once we use Vonnegut's miracle quotation-point-removing morality.
But if "we are what we pretend to be," is a bad person who pretends to be good actually good? If my hypocritically simulated sacrifice inspires others to sacrifice themselves for values they believe in, am I really good? Is the coward general who roars "come on brave boys, follow me!" and then doubles back once they start running a hero?
I wish it were so. But I don't think it is that simple. Although it wasn't my principal aim, I ended up being lauded as some sort of hero sacrificing myself for the truth. And that led others to make real sacrifices--and the funny thing is, this ended up wrecking my whole plan in the first place!--for things that I also believe in. Even if I set this in motion, I can't say that this makes my acts "good." I don't think Vonnegut was really up to thinking through the actual complexities of moral action in this world. It isn't simply about your "effects" it is about your self-hood, your authenticity. Campbell had that. Vonnegut didn't know how to deal with that.
One last thing--the new cover looks exactly like the logo for the Victor mousetrap. Is that intentional? Did they see Campbell as being trapped like a mouse in a larger plan he didn't understand? [42]
Book Review: A remarkable story
Summary: 5 Stars
This early work is quite uncharacteristic for Kurt Vonnegut, far more conventional than almost any other Vonnegut novel. It's unfortunate and surprising that he didn't write like this more often, because this relatively obscure novel just might be the best Kurt Vonnegut ever wrote.
Unlike most of his work, it has no elements of SF or the fantastic: no aliens, no synopses of novels by Kilgore Trout,no silly drawings thrown in for the hell of it, and no narration from a ghost as in Galapagos, although the narrator is about as near a ghost as a living man can be.
What it lacks in these areas is more than compensated by characters, often an afterthought in Vonnegut, but in this story rich and fully realized.
Howard Campbell is a marginally successful American playwright who became to the world world a notorious and legendary Nazi propagandist while secretly being an agent of the OSS (the predecessor of the CIA) whose broadcasts were filled with vital intelligence eagerly decrypted by American agents. After the war, Campbell was secretly repatriated to the US, but, for reasons that are never made clear, the truth was never revealed, so when Campbell's life of obscure retirement is interrupted by the exposure of his identity, he is treated as a traitor by most while being hailed as a hero by a small group of crackpot Nazi sympathizers.
Ultimately, he is abducted by Israeli agents and put on trial as a war criminal. The novel is presented as his memoirs written from an Israeli prison cell; memoirs which focus on his life as a spy and the loss of the great love of his life, an actress named Helga who was killed on the German equivalent of a USO tour.
The question at the book's heart is whether a mask, presented to the world long enough, becomes a reality rather than a mask. Campbell is told by a friend that, even if he were a spy, his broadcasts couldn't possibly have been more valuable as intelligence than they were as propaganda that kept German spirits up. Vonnegut himself seems to answer the question, saying in a brief foreword that the moral is, "You are what you pretend to be, so be careful what you pretend to be." But is that what the novel really says? Campbell perhaps has ultimately done more evil than good, but he is not an evil man. At one point he meets a character who is willing, even eager, to pretend to be something she is not; Campbell is unwilling to accept the imposture.
Some amusing comic relief is provided by the neo-Nazis Campbell finds himself unwillingly thrown in with, who are treated as more ridiculous than sinister.
Book Review: Loss of dignity, identity and courage in the face of war
Summary: 5 Stars
This may be one of the most difficult to read of Vonnegut's novels. The themes of absurdity and fatalism are presented in a dark manner. Although the narration itself flows easily like a natural conversation and Vonnegut presents his themes in no uncertain terms (pages 224-225, 251), the characters are difficult to warm up to because each is traced with evil. The protagonist, Howard W. Campbell, Jr, was a "beacon" for Nazi propaganda and associated with the most notorious of the Nazi anti-heroes. The story goes back and forth between skittish encounters and tragic events that depict the illusion of an individual's purpose on earth. Entertaining, enlightening, but heavy.
A key in interpreting this convoluted and dark novel is Vonnegut's dedication "to Mata Hari." Some brief research into the life of Mata Hari reveals some obvious parallels with the confessions of Howard W. Campbell, Jr. Mata Hari's haunting legacy is whether she was guilty of espionage or not. Mother Night starts with the same question regarding Campbell. Similar to Hari, Campbell had been generally viewed as an artist, a free-spirited bohemian prior to his war experience. Also, similar to Mata, Campbell's relationships and liaisons with powerful men took him across international borders frequently, which eventually would lead to his downfall.
In both cases, it is pointless to speculate whether or not Campbell or Hari were spies. Both were not only helpless in the face of the war machine ("gear teeth" in the "cuckoo clock of hell"), but also naïvely ignorant of the gravity of their respective situations after their arrests by the military. Hence the behaviors of both seem unfathomable, considering that each had actively determined the course of their life and constructed their own legendary persona, but also seemed pre-determined to be pawns in the immense storm of war.
Mother Night is a two-fold investigation of self-deception and fatalism. Fatalism seems to be a product of the funny mind games we play with ourselves when we rationalize that what we are doing not only right, but our only choice. Possibly, fatalism is a product of learned helplessness, where we no longer feel our actions can make a difference. Therefore, we tell ourselves lies to make our actions seem justified and we are lulled into inaction. In the end, the damage is done and the lesson is that our lies may be more influential than our truths.
Book Review: A hilariously addictive and heart-breakingly poignant book
Summary: 5 Stars
"My name is Howard W. Campbell, Jr. I am an American by birth, a Nazi by reputation, and a nationless person by inclination" are the opening words to Kurt Vonnegut's tale of an American playwright living in Germany who, once World War II begins, becomes a Nazi radio propagandist. He becomes infamous for his disgustingly brutal radio shows which distributed wicked Nazi propaganda. He was thoroughly hated by the Americans, and loved by the Nazis. But there is one thing that you should know about Howard W. Campbell. He is an American spy. His radio shows are the medium for transmitting secret codes out of Germany to aid the American cause in the war. He was one of the most effective spies of World War II, and one of the only ones to survive the war. But after the war, he is simply discarded in a small New York attic apartment, with enough money to live the rest of his days there, but with no more direction to his life. He lives his life simply there, away from civilization and anyone who might recognize him as a war criminal, until a white supremacist discovers where he is located, and he once again must face his past. Mother Night is not a traditional war book, for rather than concentrating on the brutal aspects of combat, it focuses heavily on the equally gruesome subject of hate. Vonnegut also dissects the schizophrenic mind of a spy after the war has ended who has not only lost the trust of everyone he loves, but most importantly, his identity altogether, as he realizes he is a "nationless" person. The narrator is constantly questioning his identity, which has been muddled by his spy experiences. Vonnegut also discusses the minds of the Nazis, how ordinary and often intelligent men and women could be prompted to become the vicious killing machines that they were during World War IIMother Night is a sharp, funny book thats humor is both satiric and farcical. It is a very entertaining read with twists and turns at every corner, including a surprise ending that is sure to catch the reader off-guard. Although Kurt Vonnegut is more well-known for his novels such as Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle, Mother Night is truly an overlooked classic that offers an entertaining read for not just fans of war books, but any reader looking for a hilariously addictive and heart-breakingly poignant book.
Book Review: Not much has changed
Summary: 4 Stars
MOTHER NIGHT was first published in 1961. It's amazing how little things have changed.
Howard W. Campbell, Jr., Vonnegut's major character, is an American who has lived in Germany since his father was transferred there when he was eleven. As an adult he is making a good living as a playwright when he is approached by a man named Frank Wirtanen who recruits him to spy for America. Wirtanen warns him that America will never admit they recruited him as a spy. Campbell becomes one of the most famous propagandists in the Nazi party, but during his broadcasts, his coughs and verbal pauses and other mannerisms send important messages to the Allies.
At the end of the war he is captured by Bernard B. O'Hare as a war criminal, but Wirtanen comes to his rescue and helps him escape to America where he is living in a run-down attic.
At the beginning of the novel Campbell is about to stand trial in Israel, having been outed by a Russian spy named Kraft-Potapov. Prior to his arrest, he is reunited with his wife Helga who he thought was dead. He is also celebrated by a collection of weird American neo-Nazis led by a crazy dentist named Lionel J.D. Jones, who thinks he can prove Jewish and negro inferiority using their teeth. Jones also publishes a newspaper called The White Christian Minuteman.
When Campbell's address is revealed in The White Christian Minuteman, all kinds of so-called patriots come looking for him, the foremost of whom is Bernard B. O'Hare, now a failed businessman who has devoted his life to the recapture of hero/war criminal Campbell.
Irony runs rampant. No one is who he/she seems to be. For me the climax of the book was when O'Hare confronts Campbell. Campbell says to O'Hare, "There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side."
Here we are in 2007, forty-six years later, and we've still got politicians and commentators reviling "evil-doers," and Swift boaters portraying silver star winners as unpatriotic. It seems like we should've learned something in all that time.