![]() "Harri-son Bergeron" likely draws upon a controversial 1961 speech by then Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow titled "The Vast Wasteland," a reference to a supposed dearth of quality in television programming. ![]() Popular aspects of the story include Vonnegut's satire of both enforced equality and the power of the Handicapper General, and the enervating effect television can have on viewers. By the late 1980s, however, "Harrison Bergeron" was being reprinted in high school and college literature anthologies. ![]() Initial reviews of the collection generally were less than favorable, with even more positive reviewers, such as Mitchel Levitas in the New York Times and Charles Nicol in the Atlantic Monthly, commenting negatively on the commercial quality of many of the stories. ![]() The story did not receive any critical attention, however, until 1968 when it appeared in Vonnegut's collection It was Vonnegut's third publication in a science fiction magazine following the drying up of the once-lucrative weekly family magazine market where he had published more than twenty stories between 19. "Harrison Bergeron" was first published in the October, 1961, issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. ![]()
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