...Kurt Vonnegut, Through Pain an Struggle Comes Triumph Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is known as one of the great science fiction writers during the 1950s through the 70s. He is widely known for his novel Slaughterhouse- Five, in which he took some of his own experiences with the war in Vietnam and wrote a science fiction novel. Vonnegut had written about his experiences a lot. This is why Vonnegut’s experiences with depression and death are themes explained in his work. The following paragraphs will explain the two works that have been read and give background on the man himself. Early Life Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 11th, 1922. Vonnegut’s ancestors come from German descent and they brewed beer as a family business and were also architects (Reed). Even in his early life Vonnegut has dealt with diversity. The impact of World War I seriously changed the lives of the family. Because of his German descent his family became a victim to prejudice treatment around the state (Reed). After the war the family had to deal with the prohibition, which took away the income and then the Depression slowed down and almost stopped the production of homes. Out of the 3 children Kurt could be seen as the child who did not get the best. His older sister and brother, Alice and Bernard both went to private schools while Kurt went to public schools. In 1940 Vonnegut attended the prestigious Ivy League school Cornell University. He majored in biochemistry...
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...Kurt Vonnegut, Through Pain and Struggle Comes Triumph Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is known as one of the great science fiction writers during the 1950s through the 70s. He is widely known for his novel Slaughterhouse- Five, in which he took some of his own experiences with the war in Vietnam and wrote a science fiction novel. Vonnegut had written about his experiences a lot. This is why Vonnegut’s experiences with depression and death are themes explained in his work. The following paragraphs will explain the two works that have been read and give background on the man himself. Early Life Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 11th, 1922. Vonnegut’s ancestors come from German descent and they brewed beer as a family business and were also architects. Even in his early life Vonnegut has dealt with diversity. The impact of World War I seriously changed the lives of the family. Because of his German descent his family became a victim to prejudice treatment around the state. After the war the family had to deal with the prohibition, which took away the income and then the Depression slowed down and almost stopped the production of homes. Out of the 3 children Kurt could be seen as the child who did not get the best. His older sister and brother, Alice and Bernard both went to private schools while Kurt went to public schools. In 1940 Vonnegut attended the prestigious Ivy League school Cornell University. He majored in biochemistry. Later Years ...
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...I. Introduction In his foreword to a collection of the radio scripts of comedians Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. endorses these entertainers as somehow new and different—and relevant—since they draw their humor from the plight of the (American) Common Man. In the process, Vonnegut offers us an insight into his own writing, and the philosophies that inform it. “They aren’t like most other comedians’ jokes these days,” Vonnegut writes, aren’t rooted in show business and the world of celebrities and news of the day. They feature Americans who are almost always fourth-rate or below, engaged in enterprises which, if not contemptible, are at least insane. And while other comedians show us persons tormented by bad luck and enemies and so on, Bob and Ray’s characters threaten to wreck themselves and their surroundings with their own stupidity. There is a refreshing and beautiful innocence in Bob’s and Ray’s humor. Man is not evil, they seem to say. He is simply too hilariously stupid to survive. And this I believe. Jerome Klinkowitz, in the introduction to his essay collection entitled Vonnegut in America, has used this quote—as he certainly should—to support his claim that Vonnegut’s humor has its roots in the comedic response to the Great Depression. But of course there is much more to it than that. The reader is left with a nagging question: Were humanity’s case really as Vonnegut describes it, and were this truly his belief, wouldn’t it seem that the...
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...Many readers of literature are very familiar with Kurt Vonnegut and his abilities, as an author, to portray fantastic literature. He is particularly known for his uses of science fiction. Even his shorter stories and different books, that are not supposed to be science fiction genre, have sort of a sense of his wacky science fiction style. Kurt Vonnegut very often makes a connection to nature or the real world style with science fiction, mostly by the use of humor and irony. Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He passed away at the age of 85, on April 11, 2007. Kurt's parents worked hard, and both his grandfather and father were architects. His grandfather was the founder of Vonnegut Hardware Company in Indianapolis and was all about hard work and labor. Kurt Vonnegut majored in chemistry and was very interested in writing and graphic arts, which made it hard for him to connect with his father. Kurt decided to attend the University of Cornell after graduating from Shortridge High School in May of 1940. Vonnegut developed an early understanding for his writing ability, when he became the editor for The Cornell Daily Sun. Instead of following his passion for writing, he fell into his father's ways and enlisted in the U.S. Army to study vastly about mechanical engineering. To make matters worse, a couple of years after being enlisted, his mother committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills on Mother's Day of 1944. This was the...
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