''Deadeye Dick'' is a novel by Kurt Vonnegut originally published in 1982.

Plot summary

The novel's main character, Rudy Waltz, or "Deadeye Dick", commits accidental

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

as a child when he shoots a gun out of a window and fatally strikes a pregnant woman. Rudy was so traumatized and guilt-ridden by the incident that he lives life as an asexual "neuter," neither homosexual nor heterosexual. He tells the story of his life as a middle-aged expatriate hotel manager in Haiti, which symbolizes New York City, until the end, when the stream of time of the story catches up with him. At this point, he confronts an event that has been suggested and referred to throughout the novel. The generic

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

ern town of Midland City, Ohio, in which Rudy was raised, is virtually destroyed by a neutron bomb, all the people in the town dying. At the ending of the book, it appears that Rudy, while he may not have fully come to terms with his actions, has at least come to live with them. Another key theme throughout the book is the relationship between Waltz and his parents and brother, Felix. His father, as a young man, lived in Austria and was one of the few people who was actually friends with Adolf Hitler before his rise to power. His father is also a failed artist, who does his best to protect Rudy, to the point when he insists on going to jail just to effectively make a point. Rudy's brother was the president of NBC, who is fired after his fourth marriage breaks up.

Place in the Vonnegut universe

''Deadeye Dick'' is set mostly within fictional Midland City, Ohio, which is also the setting for one of Vonnegut's other seminal works, ''Breakfast of Champions''. Several characters, locations, or concepts from that novel are mentioned in passing or have an active role in the story (e.g. Rabo Karabekian, Dwayne and Celia Hoover, the Mildred Barry Memorial Center for the Arts, and Barrytron Ltd., amongst others).

Reception

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...

reviewed ''Deadeye Dick'' for '' White Dwarf'' #56, and stated that "The Vonnegut idiom of brief, flip, casual paragraphs lets him sneak through some shrewd blows under the lighthearted camouflage, but though often moving the technique sometimes rings hollow ..Read the book, but warily."

Reviews

*Review by Loree Rackstraw (1990) in ''Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut''

References

External links

Vonnegut discusses ''Deadeye Dick'' with Martin Amis
- a British Library sound recording {{Vonnegut 1982 American novels English-language novels Novels by Kurt Vonnegut Novels set in Haiti Novels set in Ohio Postmodern novels