Scrapbook of

Kurt Vonnegut

Jr.Nov. 11,1922 –

April 11, 2007

Project By:

Victoria Welch

Quick FactsQuick Facts• Birthplace:

Indianapolis, Indiana• American novelist• breezy style and

innovative subject matter

• honest• Cornell University • Died due to a fall at

his Manhattan home – resulted in

irreversible brain injuries

Family LifeFamily Life

• Mother committed suicide on Mother's Day 1944

• Sister died of cancer

• Married Jane Marie Cox later separated

• Second wife Jill Krementz (photographer)

• Total of 7 children

Interesting Facts…Interesting Facts…

• United States Air Force during WWII (1939-1945)

• Prisoner of war – firebombing

that destroyed Dresden

– Slaughterhouse-Five

• Attempted suicide in 1984

Some Works…• Cat's Cradle (1963)

– a fantasy about the end of the world;

• Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) • Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)• Slapstick (1976)

– a farce about a future American president.• Player Piano (1952)

– a satire on modern automation• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)

– a satire about an idealistic philanthropic foundation and its encounter with greed

Themes In a nutshell…Themes In a nutshell…• satirical novels • life's cosmic joke on

humanity.• “science fiction

author”– Human condition

• Post-war life– Personal therapy– Lost faith in humanity

• Acceptance of death• Displacement of life’s events

– Flashbacks and Foreshadowing

science-fiction and fantasy science-fiction and fantasy techniquestechniques

• universe that defies causality

• destructive capabilities of technology

• In order to keep kindness view society with a mixture of sadness and humor

• Books include wonder, coincidence, randomness and irrationality.

Excerpt from Excerpt from Slaughterhouse-FiveSlaughterhouse-Five

• “It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like “Poo-tee-weet?” omixture of sadness and humor

oQuestions decisions made by humanity

* ***

Except from BluebeardExcept from Bluebeard• “I considered hiring women and children to

paint murals of the death camps and the bombing of Hiroshima and the planting of land mines, and maybe the burning of witches and the feeding of Christians to wild animals in olden times…But I think that sort of thing, on some level, just eggs men on to be even more destructive and cruel, makes them think: ‘Ha! We are as powerful as gods! There has never been anything to stop us from doing even the most frightful things, if even the most frightful things are what we choose to do.’” oHumanity and it’s flaws

oAttacks human conditionoDestructive qualities we all possessoBelieves we are in control**

**

Illustrations in books…Illustrations in books…•simple felt-tip pen drawings

–naive –funny qualities –offensive or dirty–punch lines of jokes

•“draw attention to-the adolescent, perspective by which Vonnegut deconstructs and demystifies American culture and society”

Self Portrait and how he signed his

autographs

HUMOR!HUMOR!• “True terror is to wake up one

morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”

• “Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be.” • “One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us.”

RULES OF WRITING• Do not waste time• One character to root for• Every character should want

something• Every sentence must:

– reveal character– advance the action

• Start as close to the end as possible• Be a sadist• Write to please just one person• To hell with suspense

“And if I should ever die,God forbid, I hope you will say,“Kurt is up in heaven now.”That’s my favorite joke.”

BibliographyBibliography• http://www.answers.com/topic/kurt-vonnegut-jr• http://thinkexist.com/quotes/kurt_vonnegut/• http://www.vonnegut.com/

– Anon. Art Review. Horizon. October 10, 1980, 5.– Mantell, Harold, Producer and Director Kurt Vonnegut.- A Self-Portrait. Princeton: NJ:

Films for the Humanities, 1976.– Reed, Peter. "Kurt Vonnegut." Dictionary of Literary Biography: Documentary Series. Vol.

3. Detroit: Bruccoli Clark/Gale Research, 1983.– Reed, Peter, and Marc Leeds. "The Graphics of Kurt Vonnegut." The Vonnegut

Chronicles. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. 205-222. – Telephone Interview of Kurt Vonnegut, October 18, 1995. – Telephone Interview with Joe Petro III, October 16, 1995.

• Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York: Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence, 1969.

• Vonnegut, Kurt. Bluebeard. New York, New York: Delacorte Press, 1987.

• Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York, New York: The Dial Press, 1969.