Kurt Vonnegut  

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-== Biography ==+{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
-'''Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.''' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut]+| style="text-align: left;" |
-([[November 11]], [[1922]] – [[April 11]], [[2007]]) was an [[United States|American]] [[novel]]ist known for works blending [[satire]], [[black comedy]], and [[science fiction]], such as ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' (1969), ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'' (1963), and ''[[Breakfast of Champions]]'' (1973).+"THE YEAR WAS [[2081]], and everybody was finally [[Equality|equal]]. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was [[Physical attractiveness|better looking]] than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213 th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States [[Handicap]]per General." --"[[Harrison Bergeron]]" (1961) [[Kurt Vonnegut]]
 +|}{{Template}}
 + 
 +'''Kurt Vonnegut Jr.''' (November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007) was an [[American writer]]. In a career spanning over 50 years, Vonnegut published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction, with further collections being published after his death. He is most famous for his darkly satirical, best-selling novel ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' (1969).
 + 
 +Born and raised in [[Indianapolis]], Indiana, Vonnegut attended [[Cornell University]] but dropped out in January 1943 and enlisted in the [[United States Army]]. As part of his training, he studied mechanical engineering at [[Carnegie Mellon University|Carnegie Institute of Technology]] (now [[Carnegie Mellon University]]) and the [[University of Tennessee]]. He was then deployed to Europe to fight in World War II and was captured by the Germans during the [[Battle of the Bulge]]. He was interned in [[Dresden]] and survived the [[Bombing of Dresden in World War II|Allied bombing of the city]] by taking refuge in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned. After the war, Vonnegut married Jane Marie Cox, with whom he had three children. He later adopted his sister's three sons, after she died of cancer and her husband was killed in a train accident.
 + 
 +Vonnegut published his first novel, ''[[Player Piano (novel)|Player Piano]]'', in 1952. The novel was reviewed positively but was not commercially successful. In the nearly 20 years that followed, Vonnegut published several novels that were only marginally successful, such as ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'' (1963) and ''[[God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater]]'' (1964). Vonnegut's breakthrough was his commercially and critically successful sixth novel, ''Slaughterhouse-Five''. The book's anti-war sentiment resonated with its readers amidst the ongoing [[Vietnam War]] and its reviews were generally positive. After its release, ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' went to the top of [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]], thrusting Vonnegut into fame. He was invited to give speeches, lectures and [[commencement address]]es around the country and received many awards and honors.
 + 
 +Later in his career, Vonnegut published several autobiographical essays and short-story collections, including ''[[Fates Worse Than Death]]'' (1991), and ''[[A Man Without a Country]]'' (2005). After his death, he was hailed as a morbidly comical commentator on the society in which he lived and as one of the most important contemporary writers. Vonnegut's son [[Mark Vonnegut|Mark]] published a compilation of his father's unpublished compositions, titled ''[[Armageddon in Retrospect]]''. In 2017, [[Seven Stories Press]] published [[Complete Stories (Vonnegut)|''Complete Stories'',]] a collection of Vonnegut's short fiction including 5 previously unpublished stories. ''Complete Stories'' was collected and introduced by Vonnegut friends and scholars Jerome Klinkowitz and [[Dan Wakefield]]. Numerous scholarly works have examined Vonnegut's writing and humor.
 + 
== On peepholes == == On peepholes ==
In some of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, when somebody [[death|dies]], Vonnegut does not call it dying. He writes that this person had their "[[peephole]] closed" and when they are born, they simply have their "peephole opened". In some of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, when somebody [[death|dies]], Vonnegut does not call it dying. He writes that this person had their "[[peephole]] closed" and when they are born, they simply have their "peephole opened".
 +==Self-assessment==
 +In his book ''[[Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction]]'', Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:
 +
 +#Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
 +#Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
 +#Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
 +#Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
 +#Start as close to the end as possible.
 +#Be a [[Sadist]]. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
 +#Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
 +#Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
 +
 +Vonnegut qualifies the list by adding that [[Flannery O'Connor]] broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that. He wrote an [http://peterstekel.com/PDF-HTML/Kurt%20Vonnegut%20advice%20to%20writers.htm earlier version of writing tips] that was even more straightforward and contained only seven rules (though it advised using ''[[Elements of Style]]'' for more indepth advice).
 +
 +
 +In Chapter 18, "[[The Sexual Revolution]]," Vonnegut grades his own works. He states that the grades "do not place me in literary history" and that he is comparing "myself with myself." The grades are as follows:
 +*''[[Player Piano (novel)|Player Piano]]'': B
 +*''[[The Sirens of Titan]]'': A
 +*''[[Mother Night]]'': A
 +*''[[Cat's Cradle]]'': A+
 +*''[[God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater]]'': A
 +*''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'': A+
 +*''[[Welcome to the Monkey House]]'': B−
 +*''[[Happy Birthday, Wanda June]]'': D
 +*''[[Breakfast of Champions]]'': C
 +*''[[Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons]]'': C
 +*''[[Slapstick (novel)|Slapstick]]'': D
 +*''[[Jailbird (novel)|Jailbird]]'': A
 +*''[[Palm Sunday (book)|Palm Sunday]]'': C
 +
 +==Bibliography==
 +Unless otherwise cited, items in this list are taken from Thomas F. Marvin's 2002 book ''Kurt Vonnegut: A Critical Companion'', and the date in brackets is the date the work was first published:
 +
 +'''Novels'''
 +* ''[[Player Piano (novel)|Player Piano]]'' (1952)
 +* ''[[The Sirens of Titan]]'' (1959)
 +* ''[[Mother Night]]'' (1961)
 +* ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'' (1963)
 +* ''[[God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater]]'' (1965)
 +* ''[[Slaughterhouse-Five]]'' (1969)
 +* ''[[Breakfast of Champions]]'' (1973)
 +* ''[[Slapstick (novel)|Slapstick]]'' (1976)
 +* ''[[Jailbird]]'' (1979)
 +* ''[[Deadeye Dick]]'' (1982)
 +* ''[[Galápagos (novel)|Galápagos]]'' (1985)
 +* ''[[Bluebeard (Vonnegut novel)|Bluebeard]]'' (1987)
 +* ''[[Hocus Pocus (novel)|Hocus Pocus]]'' (1990)
 +* ''[[Timequake]]'' (1997)
 +
 +'''Short fiction collections'''
 +* ''[[Canary in a Cat House]]'' (1961)
 +* ''[[Welcome to the Monkey House]]'' (1968)
 +* ''[[Happy Birthday, Wanda June]]'' (1970)
 +* ''[[Between Time and Timbuktu]]'' (1972)
 +* ''[[Sun Moon Star]]'' (1980)
 +* ''[[Bagombo Snuff Box]]'' (1997)
 +* ''[[God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian]]'' (1999)
 +* ''[[Armageddon in Retrospect]]'' (2008) – short stories and essays
 +* ''[[Look at the Birdie]]'' (2009)
 +* ''[[While Mortals Sleep (book)|While Mortals Sleep]]'' (2011)
 +* ''[[We Are What We Pretend to Be]]'' (2012)
 +* ''[[Sucker's Portfolio]]'' (2013)
 +* ''[[Complete Stories (Vonnegut)|Complete Stories]]'' (2017)
 +'''Nonfiction'''
 +* ''[[Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons]]'' (1974)
 +* ''[[Palm Sunday (book)|Palm Sunday]]'' (1981)
 +* ''[[Nothing Is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays]]'' (1984)
 +* ''[[Fates Worse Than Death]]'' (1991)
 +* ''[[A Man Without a Country]]'' (2005){{sfn|Smith|2007|p=}}
 +* ''[[Kurt Vonnegut: The Cornell Sun Years 1941–1943]]'' (2012)
 +* ''[[If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young]]'' (2013)
 +* ''[[Vonnegut by the Dozen]]'' (2013)
 +* ''[[Kurt Vonnegut: Letters]]'' (2014)
 +
 +'''Interviews'''
 +* ''[[Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut]]'' (1988) with [[William Rodney Allen]]
 +* ''[[Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation About Writing]]'' (2010) with Lee Stringer
 +* ''[[Kurt Vonnegut: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations]]'' (2011)
 +
 +'''Art'''
 +* ''Kurt Vonnegut Drawings'' (2014)
 +==Cinematography==
 +[[2081 (film)]], [[Between Time and Timbuktu]], [[Breakfast of Champions (film)]], [[Displaced Person (American Playhouse)]], [[Happy Birthday, Wanda June]], [[Harrison Bergeron (film)]], [[Mother Night (film)]], [[Slapstick of Another Kind]], [[Slaughterhouse-Five (film)]], [[Who Am I This Time? (film)]]
 +==See also==
 +*[[American satire]]
-== From Jahsonic.com ==+{{GFDL}}
-Louis-Ferdinand D. Céline (1894 - 1961)+[[Category:canon]]
-As Kurt Vonnegut states in his introduction to Rigadoon, ... It is referenced in the autobiographical first chapter of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/Celine.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Dystopia+
-The Giver by Lois Lowry; The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood; Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut; I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/Dystopia.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Andrew Calcutt+
-Bram Stoker Hunter S. Thompson John Kennedy Toole Alexander Trocchi Kurt Vonnegut Jr Nathanael West Oscar Wilde Cornell Woolrich Rudolph Wurlitzer ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/AndrewCalcutt.html - 7k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006) - Peter Boxall - 3 visits - Mar 15+
-Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 376. The French Lieutenant’s Woman – John ... Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut 428. The Graduate – Charles Webb 429. ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/1001Books.html - 57k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Cult fiction+
-... Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut); The Storm of Steel (Ernst Jünger) ... Jim Thompson , Gore Vidal , Kurt Vonnegut Jr , Irvine Welsh , Jeanette Winterson ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/CultFiction.html - 17k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Metafiction+
-... Tristram Shandy; Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions; David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men; Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/Metafiction.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-February 2006 Jahsonic (06) magazine - 12:09pm+
-In some of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, when somebody dies, Vonnegut does not call it ... Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (born November 11, 1922) is an American novelist, ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/2006Feb06.html - 55k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Satire+
-Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a political satire, adopting a sci-fi motif. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is a satire of masculinity, consumerism, ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/Satire.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Black comedy+
-Writers such as Terry Southern, Joseph Heller, Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut and others published novels and stories where profound or horrific events were ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/BlackComedy.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+
-Novels that have been considered the greatest ever+
-1969 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 19. 1952 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 20. 1940 Native Son Richard Wright 21. 1959 Henderson the Rain King Saul Bellow ...+
-www.jahsonic.com/ClassicNovel.html - 18k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this+

Current revision

"THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213 th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General." --"Harrison Bergeron" (1961) Kurt Vonnegut

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Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007) was an American writer. In a career spanning over 50 years, Vonnegut published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction, with further collections being published after his death. He is most famous for his darkly satirical, best-selling novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).

Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut attended Cornell University but dropped out in January 1943 and enlisted in the United States Army. As part of his training, he studied mechanical engineering at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and the University of Tennessee. He was then deployed to Europe to fight in World War II and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was interned in Dresden and survived the Allied bombing of the city by taking refuge in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned. After the war, Vonnegut married Jane Marie Cox, with whom he had three children. He later adopted his sister's three sons, after she died of cancer and her husband was killed in a train accident.

Vonnegut published his first novel, Player Piano, in 1952. The novel was reviewed positively but was not commercially successful. In the nearly 20 years that followed, Vonnegut published several novels that were only marginally successful, such as Cat's Cradle (1963) and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1964). Vonnegut's breakthrough was his commercially and critically successful sixth novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. The book's anti-war sentiment resonated with its readers amidst the ongoing Vietnam War and its reviews were generally positive. After its release, Slaughterhouse-Five went to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list, thrusting Vonnegut into fame. He was invited to give speeches, lectures and commencement addresses around the country and received many awards and honors.

Later in his career, Vonnegut published several autobiographical essays and short-story collections, including Fates Worse Than Death (1991), and A Man Without a Country (2005). After his death, he was hailed as a morbidly comical commentator on the society in which he lived and as one of the most important contemporary writers. Vonnegut's son Mark published a compilation of his father's unpublished compositions, titled Armageddon in Retrospect. In 2017, Seven Stories Press published Complete Stories, a collection of Vonnegut's short fiction including 5 previously unpublished stories. Complete Stories was collected and introduced by Vonnegut friends and scholars Jerome Klinkowitz and Dan Wakefield. Numerous scholarly works have examined Vonnegut's writing and humor.

Contents

[edit]

On peepholes

In some of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, when somebody dies, Vonnegut does not call it dying. He writes that this person had their "peephole closed" and when they are born, they simply have their "peephole opened".

[edit]

Self-assessment

In his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:

  1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
  2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
  3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
  4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
  5. Start as close to the end as possible.
  6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
  7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
  8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Vonnegut qualifies the list by adding that Flannery O'Connor broke all these rules except the first, and that great writers tend to do that. He wrote an earlier version of writing tips that was even more straightforward and contained only seven rules (though it advised using Elements of Style for more indepth advice).


In Chapter 18, "The Sexual Revolution," Vonnegut grades his own works. He states that the grades "do not place me in literary history" and that he is comparing "myself with myself." The grades are as follows:

[edit]

Bibliography

Unless otherwise cited, items in this list are taken from Thomas F. Marvin's 2002 book Kurt Vonnegut: A Critical Companion, and the date in brackets is the date the work was first published:

Novels

Short fiction collections

Nonfiction

Interviews

Art

  • Kurt Vonnegut Drawings (2014)
[edit]

Cinematography

2081 (film), Between Time and Timbuktu, Breakfast of Champions (film), Displaced Person (American Playhouse), Happy Birthday, Wanda June, Harrison Bergeron (film), Mother Night (film), Slapstick of Another Kind, Slaughterhouse-Five (film), Who Am I This Time? (film)

[edit]

See also


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Kurt Vonnegut" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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