Hocus Pocus

~Book Review~

July 2007

This novel by Kurt Vonnegut combines several familiar techniques that make it vintage Vonnegut. The story is told by a prisoner awaiting trial or sentencing reminiscent of Mother Night. Eugene Debs Hartke, the narrator and protagonist of the story, has spent his life trying to make the best of the bad situations he finds himself in. In the beginning he is recruited to attend West Point because his father breaks the rules of a high school science fair.

In Vietnam, Hartke does his job as a soldier and indeed is one of the last Americans to leave the political fiasco that was the Vietnam War. He returns to the revile and the loathing that many Vietnam era veterans found themselves subject to. He is recruited to teach in an upscale private university for rich children who have learning disabilities. This unnaturally leads to working in a prison across the lake from the school when he is framed for his socialist ideas. The prison is run by the invading horde of Japanese that has taken over the United States. It is not a military coup, but rather an assault by suited occupants who overtake American business and supply us with services that we can no longer provide for ourselves. Managing prisons is a good example, we have so many of our population incarcerated that it becomes impossible to manage the prisons!

The humanist value of equality of all is central to this work. Indeed, the book is dedicated to the memory of Eugene Victor Debs, 1855-1926, who famously said, "While there is a lower class, I am in it. While there is a criminal element, I am of it. While there is a soul in prison, I am not free." Debs was the Socialist Party candidate for President of the United States five times, including once from prison. Both his wife and mother-in-law are afflicted with an hereditary form of mental illness. He spends much of his time and effort trying to be human to everyone be they mentally challenged, ill, downtrodden, or whatever. Humans are important to Hartke.

Other common Vonnegut devices include a science fiction story of a superior race to pontificate on the human condition. Also included is a debasing of numbers, they are all represented by digits to indicate that numbers are not important enough to be actual words. Vonnegut had been roundly criticized for some rough language in some earlier books. He strikes back in Hocus Pocus by refusing to use any vulgate language, even though a significant portion of the dialog is among soldiers, it is written with euphemisms instead of literal language. Vonnegut uses his own methods to make his points.

--Wayne Wilson