kurt vonnegut, jr

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody

tell you different”--K.V.

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody

tell you different”--K.V.

The Early Years

Born - November 11, 1922, Indianapolis, Indiana

Grandfather- first licensed architect in Indiana

Father- wealthy architect Family’s wealth diminished when the Great

Depression hit and Kurt Sr. couldn’t find work Parents had trouble accepting the fact that they

were no longer wealthy Mother committed suicide on May 14, 1944 (Mother’s

Day) (he was away at war) Father retreated into his own little world until his

death in 1957

Education/Writing

Shortridge Daily Echo - the first daily high school newspaper in the country

Cornell University - double major (bio and chem!) Brother Bernard was a scientist - discovered

cloud seeding to induce precipitation Struggled with bio & chem Excelled as Managing Editor for Cornell Daily

Sun (school newspaper) By 1943- almost asked to leave Cornell, joined

Army instead

Dresden

“All this happened, more or less. The war parts,

anyway, are pretty much true.”

Dresden

Became German POW after being captured in the Battle of the Bulge

Sent to Dresden “The Florence on the Elbe” No military significance

Sent to work in vitamin syrup factory February 13, 1945 - Allied forces

firebombed Dresden (incendiary bombs)

Warning: some of the images that follow may be

upsetting. Close your eyes if you do not want to

see them.

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and

exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do

afterward.”

“It is a very mixed blessing to be brought back from the dead.”

Dresden, cont’d.

Debate about number of casualities from bombing (35,000 - 350,000)

Vonnegut and fellow POWs survived Making vitamins in an underground meat locker After bombing, put to work cleaning up bodies -

too many, so the Germans brought in flame throwers

Sent home in May of 1945 Received Purple Heart for what he called a

“ludicrously negligible wound” Owes career to experience in Dresden

Family Life

Married - Jane Marie Cox (high school sweetheart)

Three children of their own Later adopted his sister’s three

children after her death in 1958

Employment

Graduate student at University of Chicago Anthropology major (the study of

humankind and human cultures/societies) Thesis was rejected, did not receive degree

Newspaper reporter Teacher (yay!) Public relations employee for General

Electric in Schenectedy, NY Ran a Saab dealership

Humanism

As described by Kurt Vonnegut himself, “being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead”

Humanism is a progressive lifestance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity

Fatalism

"All persons, living and dead, are purely coincidental.” (from Timequake)

Fatalism - the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable

Who in Slaughterhouse-Five is a fatalist? How would the belief in fatalism guide

someone’s everyday actions?

From Cat’s Cradle

"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder,

'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand."

From Timequake

In response to his own question, “Why bother?” (regarding reading and writing):

"Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things

you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'"

Writing Style

Long sentences Little punctuation

“Do not use semicolons. They stand for absolutely nothing.”

Humanist point of view Satire - the use of humor, irony, exaggeration,

or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues

Writing Style

Nonlinear Chronology - events are out of order

Metafiction - fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions and traditional narrative techniques

Writing Style

Repetition Allusions (religious, literary,

classical) Use of an alter-ego (see if you can

figure out who it is) “Combination of simplicity, irony,

and rue” Blended literature with science fiction and

humor, the absurd with pointed social commentary

Science Fiction?

"I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ever since [the publication of Player Piano],

and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the

drawer for a urinal.”

Later in Life

Taught creative writing at Harvard Got divorced (and later remarried Jill

Krementz [a photographer]) Saw his son Mark suffer and recover

from a psychotic breakdown Attempted suicide (1984) Died April, 2007- head injuries due

to a fall in his home (ironic)

Other Interesting Tidbits

Smoked unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes, which he considered a “classy way to commit suicide”

November 11, 1999 - an asteroid was named in his honor

Considered Mark Twain to be an American saint (did you wonder why his son was named Mark?)

Vonnegut’s Last Lines

When the last living thingHas died on account of us,How poetical it would be

If Earth could say,In a voice floating up

PerhapsFrom the floorOf the Grand Canyon,

"It is done."People did not like it here.''

So it goes.