Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was a peculiar American novelist linked to science fiction with a satirical spark. She was able to find the personal touch of him thanks to a unique style of black humor. His work consists of more than a dozen novels. One of his main books is Slaughterhouse five (1969)
Vonnegut was active for half a century. And he was very prolific, also daring to write short stories, essays, theater and film scripts. However, if he stood out in a genre, that was the novel. If you want to know more about this famous author of the counterculture of the last century, here we present it to you.
Meeting Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922. in a family of German descent. He studied at different universities. Although from a young age he had already begun to write, tried his hand at biochemistry after a professor told him his stories weren't good enough. He points out that during his years as a student what he had liked the most was collaborating with the newspapers linked to the study centers. Very young he enlisted in the army and in 1944 he suffered the suicide of his mother.
His experience in World War II marked him. His novel Slaughterhouse five (1969) reflects very well the horror he experienced during the bombing of Dresden in Germany in February 1945. He was one of the survivors of this historic event that left thousands dead. Also, lived for a time as a prisoner of the Nazis. It is easy to understand that his way of seeing life after such traumatic experiences conditioned his literary work.
After the war he returned to university to study Anthropology. But Vonnegut continued to write and published his first novel in 1952. (the player piano). Some of his books turned out to be best sellers and he devoted his life to writing, true to his style. Vonnegut highlighted the enormous influence that the American writer Mark Twain had on him.
He married twice. His son Mark Vonnegut is a prominent pediatrician and her daughter Edith Vonnegut a renowned painter. He died in New York on April 11, 2007.
The style of his work
His work has been described as disconcerting. It's a perfect blend of wit and wacky black humor.. In a way, he is one of those hard-to-categorize authors who rise to the top through hilarious, punctilious work.
His way of writing is quite direct. With a simple style of short sentences and concise paragraphs. She didn't ramble on in complicated ways, she said what he needed without much ado. Equally, in his books you can breathe the disappointment of black humor and the lack of faith in humanity. A good example of this is the moral quality that he gives to heroes and villains in his books, on an equal footing.
However, the background of his work touched on aspects of transcendence. It asked the reader the classic questions of “who are we and where do we come from? Why are we here? Precisely, Vonnegut would use science fiction to clearly develop these issues that human beings have considered even in jest.
This writer is an example of the counterculture. It was a great success with the public and the contribution of his work has enormous value for the culture of the second half of the XNUMXth century. Nevertheless, would also have many detractors, those who belonged to the politically correct and that they saw in Vonnegut's message, as well as in his style, only a crude provocation.
Kurt vonnegut has gone down in the history of the classics, because its influence on different generations of readers beyond the United States is undeniable. in a nutshell his work can be described as funny, unconventional and with a high dose of honesty.
Major Kurt Vonnegut Books
- the player piano (1952) It is his first novel. It describes through automatism the disappearance of the human race that has been replaced by machines.
- sirens of titan (1959). Science fiction novel where the protagonist travels with his dog through space. The problem is that they cannot stay for a long time in each place. A most bizarre space-time conflict.
- Mother night (1961) is the wacky story of an American spy during World War II who goes missing in the United States. As they believe that he is a Nazi supporter, he will find himself sheltered by the most varied characters, such as members of the Ku Klux Klan.
- cat's cradle (1963) It was the novel with which he was able to graduate in Anthropology. On the one hand, the story is set in an imaginary state mired in misrule, the Republic of San Lorenzo. On the other hand, the prime minister of this place is the son of the inventor of the atomic bomb.
- Slaughterhouse Five or The Crusade of the Innocents (1969) It is considered one of the best novels of the science fiction genre, and one of the most important works of American literature of the XNUMXth century. It is contextualized in the Second World War and is an anti-war statement, which ridicules wars, and affects the horror caused by them.
- Champion's breakfast (1973) is a cynical novel whose main character is Philboyd Studge, another black comedy author. A kind of identical representation of Kurt himself where we can learn a little more about Vonnegut's true personality.
- A man without a country is a compilation of his critical essays, published in 2005. He diatribes serious current issues, such as G. Bush's politics or climate change, without abandoning his usual ironic tone.