Vonnegut's Major Works

SIRENS OF TITAN. A most beloved work by Vonnegut, as well as of the English Language. It is the story of Malachi Constant, a journeying everyman who moves around between the roles of rich businessman, catatonic soldier, and an unconventional Messiah. Constant's experience is the experience of all of humanity, and it teaches about living (more than about life) in a way that is quite convincing. We are all cogs in a cosmic machinery, but you dare not feel cynical, because it's just not right.

CAT'S CRADLE. A composite sketch of all the craziness in the world; of all that goes on that makes you wonder why the human race is not already extinct (as it goes by the end of the book). In my opinion, this book offers the anti-meaning of life--of where the meaning is not to be found (i.e. in the foolish efforts of humanity to be dominant toward an unending cause). This book is a mirror, like water, or perhaps ice.

GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER. This is the most unlikely book in the world that will make you feel good about yourself. It tells the inner and outer doings of an unusual Messiah whose dedication to doing good in unaffected by the state of the world around him. In my eyes, Vonnegut is an emulation of his own character, who is synonomous with the concept of good.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. The book that made Vonnegut the visible figure that he is in the eyes of the world. But, in many ways, to me this is not one of Vonnegut's most overwhelming works--but rather simplistic (in a complicated way; only Vonnegut can make that happen). The point to note in my opinion is the main character's last name of 'Pilgrim,' which is the direct opposite of the last name of SIRENS OF TITAN hero Malachi Constant. In more than one, way, Pilgrim and Constant are foil characters whose constant journeying brings them to the same point

DEADEYE DICK. Of all the main characters in Vonnegut's books, I feel the closest to the one in this work (he's egregious). This book is semi-autobiographical in terms of the downswings in Vonnegut' own life, and introduces many characters that are people in his life. The book itself can be monotonous at times, but part of it is constructed to make you feel dull. Vonnegut's satire is not particularly biting in this instance, but very regulated. This work is for those who find a surreal quality in their own reality.

MOTHER NIGHT. The story of World War II spy Howard J. Campbell, it is another one of Vonnegut's books (in the tradition of Slaughterhouse Five) that highlights the evil inherent in war. This book will appeal to a specific kind of audience--people who would like to know what goes on in the mind of a spy who is not happy with himself. There is some Campbell in all our lives, but cynical be not, because it is part of experience that will leave us as happy as we are. The book itself is astonishing in its all-encompasing experience.

WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE. Vonnegut's book of short stories is his statement on where humanity is headed and where it shouldn't go. It is a collage of the various mindsets that are found within the human race, and of course, how to deal with one and all. I think, in order to accomplish that, we have to keep up with the attitude that we are living among nothingheads in a monkey house. This book has enough stories to entertain everyone, including the entire Kennedy clan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANDA JUNE. The only play Vonnegut ever published, this work is a modern twist on the story of Ulysses and Penelope, done from the point of view of the woman. False masculilinity is a target in this satire, along with pseudointellectuality, and all the other things that make humans laughable (and Vonnegut is laughing at himself, along with all of us). Read it, and laugh out loud (the ending is especially funny).

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS. It certainly isn't Wheaties. This is a book about the extremes of humanity, and how, at times, they surpass the extremes of reality. Meet in full force author Kilgore Trout (Vonnegut himself in many ways) and get to learn the about the funny side of humanity in the fields of the lord. Another laugh-out-loud Vonnegutean satire, that made me feel his pain (in forms of Dwight and Celia Hoover).

PLAYER PIANO. Vonnegut's earliest published effort, this book is NOT a satire (as many might believe), but a certain bleak look at humanity's future taken through the mode of science fiction. It will entertain fans of such literature, but, in my opinion it lacks the meaningful quality that develops in Vonnegut's later works.

HOCUS POCUS. The Vonnegut book that I dislike the most. His latest work is a heavy handed account of the life of a former Vietnam vet., that I presume I'll only get to appreciate in my middle age. Till then, I'll stick to the opinion that this book is not for the Vonnegut virgin, and all of the rest of us that function in the realm of prepubesence.

SUN, MOON, STAR. A work of art--literally. This work tells little about Vonnegut as an author, but shines light on his multi-dimensional personality.

FATES WORSE THAN DEATH. A meta-autobiograpy. This book is great if you want to peer beyond the pages of the novels and into Vonnegut's own life--only to find amazing similarities. Read the book, and learn the truth about Geraldo Rivera

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                     Biography

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was born on the eleventh day of November, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His birth date, which

fell on Armistice Day, would prove to be an omen for his pacifist views. He was the grandson of the first licensed

architect in Indiana, and the son of a wealthy architect. The Great Depression, however, left Vonnegut's father out of

work, and the wealth of the family soon diminished. It was at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis that Vonnegut

gained his first writing experience. During his last two years there he wrote for and was one of the editors of the

Shortridge Daily Echo, which was the first high school daily newspaper in the country. At this young age Vonnegut

learned to write for a wide audience that would give him immediate feedback, rather than just writing for an audience of

one in the form of a teacher. After graduating from Shortridge in 1940, Vonnegut headed for Cornell University. His

father wanted him to study something that was solid and dependable, like science, so Vonnegut began his college career

as a chemistry and biology major, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Bernard, who was to eventually be the

discoverer of cloud seeding to induce precipitation. While Vonnegut struggled in his chemistry and biology studies, he

excelled as a columnist and managing editor for the Cornell Daily Sun. But by 1943 Vonnegut was on the verge of being

asked to leave Cornell due to his lackluster academic performance. He beat Cornell to the punch by enlisting in the

army. By this point Vonnegut's parents had given up on life, being unable to adjust to or accept the fact that they were

no longer wealthy, world travellers. On May 14, 1944, his mother committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.

His father was to remain a fairly isolated man the rest of his days, in full retreat from life, content to be in his own little

world until his death on October 1, 1957 (Jailbird 12-13; hereinafter identified as "J"). On December 14, 1944,

Vonnegut became a German prisoner of war after being captured in the Battle of the Bulge. He was sent to Dresden, an

open city that produced no war machinery; thus it was off-limits to allied bombing. He and his fellow POW's were to

work in a vitamin-syrup factory. On February 13, 1945, however, allied forces strafed Dresden, killing 135,000

unprotected civilians. Vonnegut and the other POW's survived the bombing as they waited it out deep in the cellar of a

slaughterhouse, where they were quartered. Vonnegut was repatriated on May 22, 1945, and on September first of that

year he married Jane Marie Cox, a friend since kindergarten, for he thought, "'Who but a wife would sleep with me?'" (J

10). Vonnegut spent the next two years in Chicago, attending the University of Chicago as a graduate anthropology

student, and working for the Chicago City News Bureau as a police reporter. When his master's thesis was rejected, he

moved to Schenectedy, New York, to work as a publicist for General Electric. It was here that his fiction career began.

On February 11, 1950, Collier's published Vonnegut's first short story, "Report on the Barnhouse Effect." By the next

year he was making enough money writing to quit his job at GE and move his family to West Barnstable,

Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. In 1952 his first novel, Player Piano, was published. By the time his next novel, The

Sirens of Titan, was published in 1959, he had had dozens of short stories published, worked as an English teacher at a

school for emotionally disturbed students, run a Saab dealership, seen his father die, witnessed the death of his 41-year

old sister, Alice, due to cancer, which occurred less than forty-eight hours after her husband had died in a train accident,

and had adopted three of Alice's four children to add to his own stable of three kids. The sixties were highlighted by the

publication of four more novels, a collection of short stories, and a two-year residency at the famous University of Iowa

Writers' Workshop. The decade culminated with the publication of Vonnegut's sixth, and still best, novel,

Slaughterhouse-Five, in 1968. The early seventies were an interesting and hectic time for Vonnegut. Much in demand as

the voice of the college-aged generation, he spent time teaching creative writing at Harvard, wrote a mildly successful

off-Broadway play, got divorced, and saw his son Mark suffer a schizophrenic breakdown. By the time Breakfast of

Champions was published in 1973, Vonnegut's life was starting to slow down just a bit as he dropped from his pinnacle

in the national spotlight. The critically lambasted Slapstick appeared in 1976, which was followed by 1979's Jailbird.

Here's our annotated bibiliography for Slaugterhouse Five!

Anderson, Thomas. The Life of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Biography. New York: Signet, 1990. 342-350.

The main subject of this source is the personal life of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. There are even several stories about his childhood that effected his literary career. It is very interesting since it has many humorous stories.


Atton, Luis. "Critical Study of Slaughterhouse Five". Modern Critical Studies. Athens: Universtiy of Georgia P, 1993.

221-235.

Atton's critical study of Slaughterhouse Five is an excellent source because he presents many different views of the book and explains why each is valid. He cites many distinguished professors' opinions as the backbone of his information.


Bennett, Bill. "Slaughterhouse Five". Reviews and Critical Studies. Ed. By Frank Robinson. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton,

1979. 155-167.

We chose this source as a critical study; but it does have an extensive book review. It is very informative and it keeps all the details quite simple. There are two interesting pictures of Vonnegut when he was writing the book. There are also several unnamed people who contributed to the critical study.


Boyce, Daniel. "Slaughterhouse Five." Survey of Contemporary Literature. Vol. 12. New Jersey: Salem Press, 1977.

7015-7019.

This review of Slaughterhouse Five praises Vonnegut for his excellent selection of words in the novel. Boyce writes mainly about how effectively Vonnegut used language to describe all of the events. This source, in addition to containing a book review, also has a great biography on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Primarily, this selection is a book review, and Boyce reviewed Slaughterhouse Five six years after it was published.


Burris, Ray. "Kurt Vonnegut". Modern Biography. 3rd edition. Kansas City, Williams Publishing Company, 1985.

188-190.

Vonnegut's biography is brief, but it has all the main points. It gives a timeline of Vonnegut's life, and includes the dates of all of his published novels. There isn't much personal information because it concentrates on his professional career. It is a great source if you're interested in other Vonnegut books.


Hatshorne, Thomas. "Slaughterhouse Five." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 22.New York: Gale Research

Company, 1982. 444-452.

Thomas Hatshorne's review on Slaughterhouse Five is very valuable. It gives a different perspective on how the book could be interpreted. He points out several parts that he feels are brilliant, gives a plot summary, and also tells about some inconsistencies in the novel. This review was also done only several months after Vonnegut released Slaughterhouse Five.


Henry, James. "Vonnegut". Authors of Our Century. 2nd edition. New York: Liberty Publishing Company, 1977.

76-79.

Henry writes to show how influential authors are in this century. He tries to show this by giving a biography of many authors, and describing how they impacted society. Vonnegut's biography is the main topic in this source. It addresses his personal life, his novels, and his future plans.


Huber, Chris. "The Vonnegut Web." Online. Yahoo. Available at

http://www.duke.edu/~crh4/vonnegut/s-five.html (Feb. 19 1998).

"The Vonnegut Web" is a wonderful site for information on many of Vonnegut's novels. We used "The Vonnegut Web" for its review on Slaughterhouse Five. It also has links to other sites with Vonnegut information. A brief summary and a review are on the Slaughterhouse Five page.


Garris, Michael. "Critical Study: Slaughterhouse Five." Studies of Literature. 16th Ed. New York: Heath, 1987.

473-479.

This source is excellent because it covers the book in great detail, then gives a critical study by Michael Garris. It was a hard source to read because the vocabulary was extremely intense. However, it does raise many good points. We felt this source was one of our strongest critical studies.


Johnson, Laura. "Slaughterhouse Five". The History Surrounding Literature. New York, Hammitt. 1980. 129-131.

Johnson completely analyzes all of the historical influences on the this novel. She cites several events of the time Vonnegut was writing Slaughterhouse Five, and gives direct passages from the novel that resulted from the events. An extensive timeline is also included in this source.


Maxwell, Brian. "Kurt Vonnegut Jr." American Biography. Ed. Norman Givens. New York, Bantam, 1982. 50-53.

This source is very informative. Many aspects of Vonnegut's life are addressed. There is extensive information on his childhood and adolescence. In addition, it also includes a variety of information about his novels and his personal life. A picture of Vonnegut is on page 52.


Murphy, Douglas. "Slaughterhouse Five". Does History Effect Novels? Los Angeles, Pierce Publishing Company,

1996. 496-497.

Douglas's book primarily is concerned in proving that current events effected the writers of this century. He has several pages dedicated to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr's Slaughterhouse Five. First, he lists all of the events that occurred during the time Vonnegut was writing. Next, he shows in the novel where the current events are present. It isn't impressive, but it does show the historical context of the novel


Oates, Joyce. "Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Slaughterhouse Five." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 12. New York:

Gale Research Company, 1980. 600-630.

This source is an excellent book review of Slaughthouse Five because it reviewed Slaughterhouse when it first came out. It is only one person's opinion, but I found the opinions and reasoning behind everything very logical. There are no pictures, but it does include some biographical information on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.


Smith, Steven. "Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse Five." An In Depth Study of Kurt Vonnegut. Ed. Marty Davis. New

York: Dodd. 1990. 44-47.

This entire book is dedicated to critical studies of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Steven Smith wrote all of the work in the book. He is quite opinionated about Slaughterhouse Fivel, but he does not let it show too much. He presents different ideas from many other critical studies. Overall, it is a great source for critical studies on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.



Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Slaughterhouse Five. New York: Dell Publishing, 1966.

Slaughterhouse Five is an anti-war novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. The main character is Billy Pilgrim and the story is seen through his eyes.


Young, Matthew. "Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five" Slaughterhouse Five, a Closer Look. Atlanta, Newport Press,

1972.

Young addresses many aspects of the novel. It is primarily a summary of the novel, but it does have information on the historical context of the novel near the end. The entire book is a great source of information for Slaugtherhouse Five. A biography, critical study, and a historical context are all featured in this book.


Wright, Mary. "The Way it Was". Historical Issues that Affected Novelists. Boston, Virago and Company, 1975. 6-15.

Wright lists many novels, including Slaughterhouse Five, and discusses the impact of events during the time Vonnegut was writing. She also lists parts in the novel that show evidence that the current events greatly impacted the novel.