Kurt Vonnegut Jr

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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.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1922–2007, American novelist, b. Indianapolis. After serving in a World War II combat unit, he worked as a police reporter. Marked by wry black humor, Vonnegut's satirical, pessimistic, and morally urgent novels frequently protest the horrors of the 20th cent., as in the best-selling Slaughterhouse-Five (1969; film, 1972). His fiction spoke with particular forcefulness to the generation that came of age in the 1960s and 70s. Vonnegut's books frequently include elements of science fiction, featuring fantastic plots and sometimes involving such devices as trips in outer space, time faults, and apocalyptic destruction. Among his other novels are Player Piano (1952), Mother Night (1961; film, 1996), Cat's Cradle (1963), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), Breakfast of Champions (1973; film, 1999), Deadeye Dick (1983), Bluebeard (1987), and the novel-memoir Timequake (1997). He also wrote short stories, plays, and essays, e.g., the collections Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974), The Man without a Country (2005), and the posthumously published Armageddon in Retrospect (2008).

Bibliography: See his semiautobiographical Fates Worse than Death (1991); W. R. Allen, ed., Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut (1988) and P. J. Reed and M. Leeds, Vonnegut Chronicles: Interviews and Essays (1996); biography by C. J. Shields (2011); studies by P. J. Reed (1972 and 1997), S. Schatt (1976), J. Lundquist (1977), J. Klinkowitz (1982, 2004, and 2009), R. Merrill, ed. (1990), L. Mustazza (1990 and 1994), W. R. Allen (1991), D. E. Morse (1992 and 2003), H. Bloom, ed. (2000), K. A. Boon, ed. (2001), T. F. Marvin (2002), J. Tomedi (2004), and T. F. Davis (2006); M. Leeds, The Vonnegut Encyclopedia (1995).

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr (1922– ) US novelist. He often draws on the conventions of fantasy to satirize the horrors of the 20th century. Vonnegut's novels, which experiment with time and narrative structure, include Player Piano (1952), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Hocus Pocus (1991). His short stories were collected in Welcome to the Monkey House (1968). Other works include Three Complete Novels (1995).