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American Literature: The Contemporary Period: Vonnegut

A research topic guide on contemporary American Literature.

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007) was an American writer most known for Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions.

Research & Reference

Streaming Media

Author's Works & Perspectives

Slaughterhouse-Five

A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece, "a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century" (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow Birds   Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time   Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber's son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming "unstuck in time." An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut's writing--the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit--that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O'Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut's words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as "the kind of writer who made people--young people especially--want to write." George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be "the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves." Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era's uncertainties. "Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement."--The Boston Globe

Bluebeard

"Ranks with Vonnegut's best and goes one step beyond . . . joyous, soaring fiction."--The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Broad humor and bitter irony collide in this fictional autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, who, at age seventy-one, wants to be left alone on his Long Island estate with the secret he has locked inside his potato barn. But then a voluptuous young widow badgers Rabo into telling his life story--and Vonnegut in turn tells us the plain, heart-hammering truth about man's careless fancy to create or destroy what he loves. Praise for Bluebeard "Vonnegut is at his edifying best."--The Philadelphia Inquirer "The quicksilver mind of Vonnegut is at it again. . . . He displays all his talents--satire, irony, ridicule, slapstick, and even a shaggy dog story of epic proportions."--The Cincinnati Post   "[Kurt Vonnegut is] a voice you can trust to keep poking holes in the social fabric."--San Francisco Chronicle   "It has the qualities of classic Bosch and Slaughterhouse Vonnegut. . . . Bluebeard is uncommonly feisty."--USA Today   "Is Bluebeard good? Yes! . . . This is vintage Vonnegut--good wine from his best grapes."--The Detroit News   "A joyride . . . Vonnegut is more fascinated and puzzled than angered by the human stupidities and contradictions he discerns so keenly. So hop in his rumble seat. As you whiz along, what you observe may provide some new perspectives."--Kansas City Star

A Man Without a Country

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations . . . this is what he is like in person."-USA Today In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this age-or any age-holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of America's soul. From his coming of age in America, to his formative war experiences, to his life as an artist, this is Vonnegut doing what he does best: Being himself. Whimsically illustrated by the author, A Man Without a Country is intimate, tender, and brimming with the scope of Kurt Vonnegut's passions. Praise for A Man Without a Country "[This] may be as close as Vonnegut ever comes to a memoir."-Los Angeles Times "Like [that of] his literary ancestor Mark Twain, [Kurt Vonnegut's] crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted. . . . [Reading A Man Without a Country is] like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend."-The New York Times Book Review "Filled with [Vonnegut's] usual contradictory mix of joy and sorrow, hope and despair, humor and gravity."-Chicago Tribune "Fans will linger on every word . . . as once again [Vonnegut] captures the complexity of the human condition with stunning calligraphic simplicity."-The Australian "Thank God, Kurt Vonnegut has broken his promise that he will never write another book. In this wondrous assemblage of mini-memoirs, we discover his family's legacy and his obstinate, unfashionable humanism."-Studs Terkel

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

"[Vonnegut] at his wildest best."--The New York Times Book Review Eliot Rosewater--drunk, volunteer fireman, and President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation--is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature . . . with a little help from writer Kilgore Trout. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is Kurt Vonnegut's funniest satire, an etched-in-acid portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to. "A brilliantly funny satire on almost everything."--Conrad Aiken "[Vonnegut was] our finest black humorist. . . . We laugh in self-defense."--The Atlantic Monthly

Pity the Reader

The art and craft of writing by one of the few grandmasters of American literature, a bonanza for writers and readers written by Kurt Vonnegut's former student. Here is an entirely new side of Kurt Vonnegut, Vonnegut as a teacher of writing. Of course he's given us glimpses before, with aphorisms and short essays and articles and in his speeches. But never before has an entire book been devoted to Kurt Vonnegut the teacher. Here is pretty much everything Vonnegut ever said or wrote having to do with the writing art and craft, altogether a healing, a nourishing expedition. McConnell has outfitted us for the journey, and in these 37 chapters covers the waterfront of how one American writer brought himself to the pinnacle of the writing art, and we can all benefit as a result. Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of American literature, whose novels continue to influence new generations about the ways in which our imaginations can help us to live. Few aspects of his contribution have not been plumbed--fourteen novels, collections of his speeches, his essays, his letters, his plays--so this fresh view of him, written by a former student, is a bonanza for writers and readers and Vonnegut fans everywhere.

Galapagos

"A madcap genealogical adventure . . . Vonnegut is a postmodern Mark Twain."--The New York Times Book Review Galápagos takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galápagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel, America' s master satirist looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry-and all that is worth saving. Praise for Galápagos "The best Vonnegut novel yet!"--John Irving "Beautiful . . . provocative, arresting reading."--USA Today "A satire in the classic tradition . . . a dark vision, a heartfelt warning."--The Detroit Free Press   "Interesting, engaging, sad and yet very funny . . . Vonnegut is still in top form. If he has no prescription for alleviating the pain of the human condition, at least he is a first-rate diagnostician."--Susan Isaacs, Newsday   "Dark . . . original and funny."--People   "A triumph of style, originality and warped yet consistent logic . . . a condensation, an evolution of Vonnegut's entire career, including all the issues and questions he has pursued relentlessly for four decades."--The Philadelphia Inquirer   "Wild details, wry humor, outrageous characters . . . Galápagos is a comic lament, a sadly ironic vison."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch   "A work of high comedy, sadness and imagination."--The Denver Post   "Wacky wit and irreverent imagination .  . . and the full range of technical innovations have made [Vonnegut] America's preeminent experimental novelist."--The Minneapolis Star and Tribune

Cat's Cradle

This apocalyptic story tells of Earth's ultimate end, and presents a vision of the future that is both darkly fantastic and funny.

And So It Goes

ANew York Times Notable Book for 2011 AWashington Post Notable Nonfiction Book for 2011 The first authoritative biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer who changed the conversation of American literature. In 2006, Charles Shields reached out to Kurt Vonnegut in a letter, asking for his endorsement for a planned biography. The first response was no ("A most respectful demurring by me for the excellent writer Charles J. Shields, who offered to be my biographer"). Unwilling to take no for an answer, propelled by a passion for his subject, and already deep into his research, Shields wrote again and this time, to his delight, the answer came back: "O.K." For the next year--a year that ended up being Vonnegut's last--Shields had access to Vonnegut and his letters. And So It Goes is the culmination of five years of research and writing--the first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut resonates with readers of all generations from the baby boomers who grew up with him to high-school and college students who are discovering his work for the first time. Vonnegut's concise collection of personal essays,Man Without a Country, published in 2006, spent fifteen weeks on theNew York Times bestseller list and has sold more than 300,000 copies to date. The twenty-first century has seen interest in and scholarship about Vonnegut's works grow even stronger, and this is the first book to examine in full the life of one of the most influential iconoclasts of his time.

Kurt Vonnegut's America

Kurt Vonnegut's death on April 11, 2007, marked the passing of a major force in American life and letters. Jerome Klinkowitz, one of the earliest and most prolific authorities on Vonnegut, examines the long dialogue between the author and American culture--a conversation that produced fourteen novels and hundreds of short stories and essays. Spanning Vonnegut's half-century literary career, Kurt Vonnegut's America integrates discussion of myriad fiction, essays, and lectures with personal exchanges and biographical sketches to map the complex symbiotic relationship between Vonnegut's work and the cultural context from which it emerged--and which it in turn helped shape. Following an introduction characterizing Vonnegut as Klinkowitz came to know him over the course of their friendship, this study traces Vonnegut's career, decade by decade, drawing connections between the nation's preoccupations, the author's biography, and his literary productions. Vonnegut's 1950s saw him starting out as a short story writer, using his training in anthropology and experience in journalism and public relations to offer comic insights on middle-class behaviors. In the 1960s the author produced a series of darkly humorous novels rooted in the sense of apocalypse he'd experienced as a prisoner of war during the destruction of Dresden, Germany. Vonnegut's rising fame made him a public figure by 1970, with his novels and increasingly prominent essays serving as commentaries on the trends and patterns of these changing times. By the 1980s Vonnegut was sufficiently comfortable with his celebrity status to offer broader perspectives in his work, including his take on human evolution and artistic development. The 1990s found Vonnegut writing the strongest fiction and commentary of his career, melding them into a masterpiece, Timequake, the virtual autobiography of a novel. Among his artistic peers, Vonnegut was uniquely gifted at anticipating and articulating the changing course of American culture. Far from being A Man without a Country, as his last book was titled, Vonnegut achieved greatness by passing his own test--opening the eyes of his audience to help them better understand their roles and possibilities in the common culture they both shared and crafted.

Understanding Kurt Vonnegut

Understanding Kurt Vonnegut is a critical analysis of Vonnegut�s fiction as a point of entrance for students and general readers alike. In close readings of Vonnegut�s novels, William Rodney Allen examines the distinctive stylistic, thematic, and formally innovative elements that earned Vonnegut (1922�2007) a mass following, especially among young readers, as well as critical respect among scholars.