Kurt Vonnegut Bio/Style
Evan Turnbull
10 October 2011
Author Study Final Draft
Word Count: 1532
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut was a man of pacifism and pessimism. The son of an architect, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was born on November 11, 1922 at Indianapolis, Indiana (Elkins). Vonnegut was born into a family that was largely affected by the Great Depression, which proved to shape his science-fiction writing style. Vonnegut’s works are known for their black humor and use of science fiction, as well as their underlying themes of morality and references to political topics. Vonnegut largely uses technology as an antagonist in his writing, or rather, human’s misuse of it. In Cat’s Cradle, a chemical freezes all the water on Earth and brings about the apocalypse. Player Piano ends with the failing of a rebellion against a world run by machines. In Slaughterhouse-Five, the Dresden bombing occurs, which kills more people than Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. Vonnegut 's science fiction centers on three interrelated attitudes: (a) a deep mistrust of humanity 's ability to control science and technology, and, hence, (b) a profound pessimism concerning the future of the human race unless (c) it can create useful fictions to replace those traditional myths rendered obsolete by science (Elkins). Vonnegut writes with a lack of trust in humankind relating to the control of technology, which could quite possibly lead to the apocalypse unless humans understand their mistakes and create a new way of life. The semi-autobiographical nature of Kurt Vonnegut’s work is shown in Slaughterhouse-Five. In this novel, the protagonist Billy Pilgrim closely mirrors Vonnegut, specifically regarding Dresden. Billy Pilgrim is an unassuming man that is drafted into the war before he can finish school, exactly like Vonnegut. Pilgrim is thrust into the Battle of the Bulge with very little training, and ends up becoming captured by the Germans and eventually taken to an underground slaughterhouse in Dresden to help produce
10 October 2011
Author Study Final Draft
Word Count: 1532
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut was a man of pacifism and pessimism. The son of an architect, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was born on November 11, 1922 at Indianapolis, Indiana (Elkins). Vonnegut was born into a family that was largely affected by the Great Depression, which proved to shape his science-fiction writing style. Vonnegut’s works are known for their black humor and use of science fiction, as well as their underlying themes of morality and references to political topics. Vonnegut largely uses technology as an antagonist in his writing, or rather, human’s misuse of it. In Cat’s Cradle, a chemical freezes all the water on Earth and brings about the apocalypse. Player Piano ends with the failing of a rebellion against a world run by machines. In Slaughterhouse-Five, the Dresden bombing occurs, which kills more people than Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined. Vonnegut 's science fiction centers on three interrelated attitudes: (a) a deep mistrust of humanity 's ability to control science and technology, and, hence, (b) a profound pessimism concerning the future of the human race unless (c) it can create useful fictions to replace those traditional myths rendered obsolete by science (Elkins). Vonnegut writes with a lack of trust in humankind relating to the control of technology, which could quite possibly lead to the apocalypse unless humans understand their mistakes and create a new way of life. The semi-autobiographical nature of Kurt Vonnegut’s work is shown in Slaughterhouse-Five. In this novel, the protagonist Billy Pilgrim closely mirrors Vonnegut, specifically regarding Dresden. Billy Pilgrim is an unassuming man that is drafted into the war before he can finish school, exactly like Vonnegut. Pilgrim is thrust into the Battle of the Bulge with very little training, and ends up becoming captured by the Germans and eventually taken to an underground slaughterhouse in Dresden to help produce
Cited: "Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut 's Slaughterhouse-Five." 123HelpMe.com. 5 Oct 2011 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=19262>. Elkins, Charles L. "Kurt Vonnegut Jr." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Everett Franklin Bleiler. New York: Charles Scribner 's Sons, 1982. Scribner Writers Series. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. Klinkowitz, Jerome. Mustazza, Leonard, ed. The Critical Reception of Slaughterhouse-Five. Penn State, Oct. 2010. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. <http://salempress.com/Store/samples/critical_insights/vonnegut_reception.htm> "Overview: Slaughterhouse-Five." Characters in Young Adult Literature. John T Gillespie and Corinne J. Naden. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Oct. 2011. Reed, Peter J. "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." American Novelists Since World War II: First Series. Ed. Jeffrey Helterman and Richard Layman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1978. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 2. Literature Resource Center. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-five, Or, the Children 's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. New York: Dial Press, 2005. Print. ---. Wampeters, Foma, & Granfalloons. New York: Delacorte Press, 1974. Print.