Talk:Breakfast of Champions/Archive 1

Archive 1

superfluity

What does, "The novel also describes a fictional extinct giant sea eagle called the Bermuda Ern." add to the article? --Amanaplanacanalpanama 03:37, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

To show the books superfluity? ~sumguy

Wayne Hoobler

I think that as one of the major characters in the book, Wayne Hoobler need to be mentioned. I just don't know the best way to do it. Anyone wanna take a crack? -Drdisque 04:13, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Plot Summary

Is this plot summary from the novel or the film? In the text that I have, none of the characters say, "Make me a tiger!... make me some cereal!" It ends with "Make me young! Make me young! Make me young! etc." 67.141.211.222 03:13, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:BreakfastOfChampions(Vonnegut).jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 19:12, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

"the words ETC"

"ETC" looks like an odd rendering (consisting of course of three letters, not multiple words) of the abbreviation "etc." which stands for the Latin words "et cetera". I'm changing "the words ETC" to "the letters ETC". If the context of the novel makes clear something i don't know (my choice of Vonnegut works has been idiosyncratic, and not included this one), well, what i'm missing needs to stated in the article. (If it were a PK Dick novel, e.g., i'd wonder if what's listed right after "electric chair" were an intentionally garbled reference to Electro-Convulsive Therapy!)
--Jerzy•t 01:08, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

the book title comes from?

Excerpt taken from article;

"The novel's name," -- "comes from a key scene late in the..." 

• Perhaps 'comes from a key scene' be changed to 'comes in a key scene', is it that the name of this book is actually taken from this scene, or is that a personal guess. This book's title does not have to come from this scene in the text, does a mention exist by the author that supports this, either way. Book M 08:21, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

The Drano Connection

Am I crazy to think that the Drano Hoover's wife drinks is the real "breakfast of champions", and the other is just a diversion? dclayh 17:16, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

• Crazy or brilliant makes no difference in light of NOR.
  --Jerzy•t 01:10 & 01:12, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
  

Goodbye Blue Monday

[Regarding the lead-sent language:]^{Clarifcation of earlier editor's confusing format:--Jerzy•t 08:32, 21 March 2009 (UTC)}

Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday...

Of course Vonnegut uses this in the frontleaf of the book, but I don't think this is the official title of the book. I think the official title of the book is "Breakfast of Champions". Tempshill (talk) 19:31, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

• Agreed. I recall Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade, which i've never heard referred to that way, except perhaps to take note of him making that mostly extraneous comment on the title.
  (None of my 3 favorite dicts nor WP nor several online dicts acknowledge this term "frontleaf"; i take you to mean "title page".)
  I think that in the absence of a better reason than the title page,

Slaughterhouse-Five (subtitled, only on its title page, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death, 1969) by ....

would work well. (But gosh, i totally forgot anything was after "Crusade"!) In the current case, i fear the perverse final ellipsis is too confusing, so i'd rather have a separate sentence, perhaps in its own 'graph:

(In contrast to the title on the cover, the exact title on the title page is Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday....)

Anyone know what his publishers call those books? I would also, in order to be able to say a little more, recommend checking it in OCLC, which IIRC is now viewable free on-line. (Universal Library? -- ask me to hunt it down if you reach the point of wanting to give up.) The result may be that some libraries use each version -- which is interesting in itself. And you may be able to find out roughly how many (major?) libraries use each, which will be of interest to your colleagues, even if not appropriate to the article.

(Sudden flash of insight: Can you picture him submitting the typescripts to the publisher with the double-truck titles, and getting polite letters back saying (with "studied nonchalance") "We're all very excited about Slaughterhouse-Five.", "We expect Breakfast of Champions to be another great success.", etc.?
I recall an author who was concerned that his book not have a cover of a certain color, and got only a quasi-assurance along the lines of "I don't think anyone is considering that color." I have some sense that, at least as a rule of thumb, the insides of books belong to their respective authors, and the covers and dust jackets belong to the publishing house. An example was the author who intended his title to be Four and a Half Years (of Fighting) Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice rather than the lame My Struggle.
--Jerzy•t 08:32, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

References

I was surprised to see a {{references}} tag on this article, and went to look for some sources, which I was sure would be easy to find. Unfortunately, they are not. This seems to be due to most commentary on the book having been made thirty eight years ago when the book came out. There are some articles in newspaper archives, but they are pay-per-view. Myself I live in a rather small town, but somebody with access to a large library might be able to locate the actual articles. This is simply a case of the sources being too old, as opposed to non-existent. Beeblebrox (talk) 16:51, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

I once saw the book in an antique shop and briefly looked through it. It contains phrases that would be considered racist by today's standards (although arguably a satire). Perhaps it's been condemned. 198.228.196.238 (talk) 18:20, 9 September 2011 (UTC) Collin237

Philboyd Studge origin

The article states without reference that this is a "character" that Vonnegut borrowed from a Saki story, but the text of Breakfast of Champions states: "My friend Knox Burger said one time that a certain cumbersome novel “… read as though it had been written by Philboyd Studge.”"

Knox Berger was a real-life book agent/editor for Kurt Vonnegut, so I'd say this is pretty credible. Maybe Berger borrowed the name from Saki but I couldn't find a reference.

Also, Philboyd Studge is not really a character in the novel, rather a made-up name used to label cumbersome writing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eight40 (talk • contribs) 20:19, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

• Since there was no response/objection, I edited the Philboyd Studge reference to reflect the 2 references in the preface:

"What do I myself think of this particular book? I feel lousy about it, but I always feel lousy about my books. My friend Knox Burger said one time that a certain cumbersome novel “… read as though it had been written by Philboyd Studge.” That’s who I think I am when I write what I am seemingly programmed to write."

And then at the end of the preface he signs off with "--Philboyd Studge", clearly referring to himself and referencing the first quote. Eight40 (talk) 22:03, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Where is Midland City?

The article says that Midland City is both in Michigan (in the header), and in Ohio (in the Style section). I'm inclined to believe it's in Ohio, due to Deadeye Dick being set in the same town. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Llamascout (talk • contribs) 14:50, 3 August 2016 (UTC)