"Only Kidding, Folks?" is a review of seven works[1] by Polish author Stanisław Lem released in English by Seabury Press. It was first published in The Nation on May 13, 1978 and reprinted in the collection Vonnegut By The Dozen in 2013.
Summary[]
Stanisław Lem
Lem is one of the most popular science fiction writers in the world, spoken of highly by futurologist Alvin Toffler, literary critic Leslie Fiedler, Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov, and writer Ursula LeGuin. While he is often described as amusing, humorous, zany, and likewise, Vonnegut instead finds him "a master of utterly terminal pessimism" who encourage readers to see humans as unappealing figures, devoid of sympathetic attributes, much like Johnathan Swift. Human deaths are simple, unemotional events.
Lem's popularity in spite of this negative attitude toward humanity Vonnegut attributes to the humor many see in his work. Like many "bitter night club comics" who offset their bilious views with a casual "only kidding, folks," Lem covers his views of humanity and the future with outlandishness. Vonnegut says he's begun to suspect that many humorists, like Mark Twain, learned to be funny to make their criticisms socially acceptable. As humanity continues to slowly kill itself, more of these humorists will come into being, although perhaps not as gifted as Lem. While his characters are never ones with whom readers can relate, he as the author is never absent and is the character that keeps the reader interested.[2]
See Also[]
- Gil Berman, comedian from Vonnegut's unfinished final work, "If God Were Alive Today", who often ends his cultural criticisms with "only kidding, folks"
- "Opening Remarks in The Unabridged Mark Twain", in which Vonnegut proposes that every modern comedian who ends attacks on society with the phrase "only kidding, folks" is an heir to Twain.