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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. “ 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
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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. “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 thing Has died on account of us, How poetical it would be If Earth could say, In a voice floating up PerhapsFrom the floor Of the Grand Canyon, "It is done. "People did not like it here.''
