Mark Vonnegut, M.D., was in town on Friday to talk about his father, the celebrated writer Kurt Vonnegut, who died in 2007.

The program was organized by St. Louis Actors’ Studio (disclosure: my brother, William Roth, was a founder of the group) and the St. Louis Beacon.

I am not going to attempt a literary critique of the elder Mr. Vonnegut, an exceedingly interesting public figure (as this interview reveals).

But I do enjoy first-hand remembrances of highly accomplished people, and thoughtful memorials and summings-up of all kinds of people.

The younger Mr. Vonnegut, a Harvard-trained pediatrician and accomplished writer, brought all of these things to St. Louis, along with a compelling collection of his father’s art and magic-markered aphorisms,  called “confetti.”

The account is loving and engaging, but cleared eyed. It lasted a little under an hour.

The video, above, distills the presentation into about 6 and a half minutes, and is played against a slide show of Kurt Vonnegut’s drawings, paintings, confetti and a few photos.

Three things I especially enjoyed hearing:

• That Kurt Vonnegut was in his 40s before he broke through with Slaughterhouse-Five, his first highly successful novel.
• A native Hoosier (Indianapolis), Kurt Vonnegut’s Midwestern upbringing served as a ballast throughout his life, even though he spent most of his adult years living in the north east. (Mark Vonnegut expressed special satisfaction at giving his talk before a Midwestern audience.)
• That Kurt Vonnegut believed everyone’s attempt at art helps them to progress as people, even if the art is not good.