When Vonnegut Worked at Sports Illustrated

We’ve posted in the past when a bit of correspondence from gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson is revealed (like this letter he sent when applying for a job at the Vancouver Sun). But why should HST get all the coverage?

Kurt Vonnegut, for example, did a brief stint at Sports Illustrated when the magazine was first launching. His downfall came when he was asked to write a story about a race horse that had jumped over a rail and escaped.

According to VonnegutWeb, Vonnegut stared at his desk for hours. Finally, he left the building. Inside his deserted typewriter was this: ”The horse jumped over the f*cking fence.”