Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. (1922–), born in Indianapolis, studied biochemistry at Cornell before being drafted into the infantry in World War II. Captured by the Germans, he was working in the underground meat locker of a slaughterhouse in Dresden when that city was annihilated by U.S. and British bombs. He emerged to find “135,000 Hansels and Gretels had been baked like gingerbread men.” After the war Vonnegut studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and worked in public relations for General Electric. His first novel, Player Piano (1952), satirizes the tyrannies of automation observed at G.E. and his second, The Sirens of Titan (1959), uses the mode of science fiction. Mother Night (1961) presents an American spy in Germany during World War II who transmits secret messages via open pro‐Nazi, anti‐Semitic radio talks; its moral, Vonnegut declared, was that “We are what we pretend to be.” Cat's Cradle (1963), like his other novels, uses science fiction concepts for quietly satirical consideration of mankind and its need for sympathy and compassion, proposing that we live by “foma,” lies that make for human happiness. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), in a similar vein, is also marked by freedom of form and by fanciful black humor in presenting the duplicity and absurdity of modern life, and its lack of generosity and gentleness. Slaughterhouse‐Five; or The Children's Crusade (1969), inspired by his Dresden experience, also uses the vein of surrealism and science fiction, and is marked by the dark comedy, philosophic meditation, and brief, impressionistic scenes of the sort that characterized Cat's Cradle. Breakfast of Champions; or, Goodbye Blue Monday! (1973) is a lesser, though popular, novel that in chronicling the fantastic adventures of several Americans makes nihilistic comment upon contemporary society. Slapstick; or, Lonesome No More! (1976), also a slighter novel, as a broad comedy treats the problem of loneliness. Jailbird (1979) is a more straightforward novel portraying the fanciful life of a fictitious participant in the Watergate conspiracy as it satirizes American politics. Deadeye Dick (1982) deals with the accidental explosion of a neutron bomb in Ohio. Galapagos (1985) deals with a confusion of past, future, and present related to various human views. Bluebeard (1987), Vonnegut's 13th novel, employs a minor character from Breakfast of Champions to treat major themes prominent in the preceding fiction. Hocus Pocus (1990) is a narrative by a Vietnam veteran, set in 2001. Vonnegut declared that Timequake (1997) would be his last novel. Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) collects stories and essays, and Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974) is a volume of essays, reviews, and speeches, whose title employs words used in Cat's Cradle. Palm Sunday (1981) is a similar collection. Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970) is a play that satirically presents the afterlife (on earth and in heaven) of two American military heroes who dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and Between Time and Timbuktu (1973) is a television script drawing upon Cat's Cradle and The Sirens of Titan. Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) is a volume of previously uncollected short fiction.