This article demonstrates how Kurt Vonnegut experiments with the narrative structure of his novel Slaughterhouse-Five. The study focuses on Vonnegut’s experimentation which assents to postmodern innovative virtuosity. On the outset of postmodernism, two critical issues have been raised. That is, the literature of exhaustion and the literature of replenishment dominating modern literature. Accordingly, this study explores Vonnegut’s critique of literary exhaustion prevailing modernism’s exhausted
Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic written by Kurt Vonnegut, is one of the “world’s great antiwar books.” Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s journey through time reflects on the author’s own experiences in World War II. From this he developed, “combat fatigue,” or PTSD as it was known then. What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? It is a condition of persistent mental and emotional stress occurring as a result of injury or severe psychological shock, typically
book review, Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade, written by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt praises Vonnegut for his work in his book SlaughterHouse-Five, which indirectly told of his experiences in World War Two and the bombing of Dresden. The article claims that the story is a “highly imaginative, often funny, nearly psychedelic” piece. While I agree with Lehmann-Haupt that Slaughterhouse-Five is effectively written with the use of imagery, I maintain that what makes Vonnegut’s war novel legendary
Early on in Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim tells his wife, Valencia, “‘It would sound like a dream’” (121) to tell her about his experiences in the war. Shortly thereafter, he becomes unstuck in time again, traveling back to his horrific life as a soldier in World War II. Making the connection between a novel with a theme of insanity to an Edgar Allan Poe poem seemed only natural. Poe, like Kurt Vonnegut, is a master of developing the topic in an ironic, dark manner, as seen in his short-story
The ISU Novel Analysis: Page one: Plot Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is written in a very unorthodox type of way. The story is mostly about the bombings of Dresden, Germany, and about how people are affected by war. The story revolves around protagonist Billy Pilgrim, a man that has been "unstuck in time." This means that the adventures of Billy are constantly being revisited and the reader is being brought along and jumped around from memory to memory. Since Vonnegut experienced and survived