DOCSLIB.ORG

Asa Pieratt Collection of Ephemera Relating to Kurt Vonnegut

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Special Collections Department Asa Pieratt Collection of Ephemera relating to Kurt Vonnegut 1972 - 1996 Manuscript Collection Number: 301 Accessioned: Gift of Asa Pieratt, 1987-1996. Extent: 1 linear ft. Content: Magazines, brochures, posters, typescripts, flyers, correspondence, reviews, programs catalogs, interviews, addresses, and essays. Access: The collection is open for research. Processed: July 1994, by Anita A. Wellner. for reference assistance email Special Collections or contact: Special Collections, University of Delaware Library Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 (302) 831-2229 Table of Contents Biographical Notes Scope and Contents Note Arrangement Note Contents List Biographical Notes Asa Pieratt Librarian and bibliographer Asa Pieratt was born August 30, 1938, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He received a B.A. from Kalamazoo College in 1961 and an A.M.L.S. from the University of Michigan in 1965. He also studied at Universidad de los Andes (1959), Jane Greenfield Bindery (1968-1969), and Columbia University (1969-1970). Mr. Pieratt worked on the library staffs of numerous colleges and universities, including the University of Michigan (1962-1964); Miami-Dade Junior College (1965-1966); Bowling Green State University (1966-1967); University of New Haven, Connecticut (1967-1973); and the University of Delaware (1973-1992), from which he retired in 1992. Pieratt co-authored, with Jerome Klinkowitz, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: a descriptive bibliography and annotated secondary checklist (1974); Donald Barthelme: a descriptive bibliography (1978); and Kurt Vonnegut: a comprehensive bibliography. He also contributed to The Vonnegut Statement (1973). In addition to Mr. Pieratt's interest in and collection of material related to Kurt Vonnegut, he also collects postcards and has written Postcard Pageantry: celebrations of major and minor expositions, fairs, and events in early twentieth-century America (1978). Mr. Pieratt resides in Newark, Delaware. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Between 1940 and 1947, Vonnegut attended classes at several universities, including Cornell University (1940-1942), Carnegie Institute of Technology (1943), and the University of Chicago (1945-1947). He received a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago in 1971. During World War II, Vonnegut was an infantryman in the U.S. Army, who was subsequently captured and held as a prisoner of war in Dresden. He survived the February 13, 1945, firebombing of Dresden by the Allied forces, which took the lives of 135,000 German civilians. The story of Billy Pilgrim in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, is based on Vonnegut's Dresden experience. Since his first novel, Player Piano, published by Scribner in 1952, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has written twelve novels, including The Sirens of Titan (1959), Mother Night (1962), Cat's Cradle (1963), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), Slaughterhouse Five (1969), Breakfast of Champions (1973), Slapstick (1976), Jailbird (1979), Dead-Eye Dick (1982), Galapagos (1985), Bluebeard (1987), and Hocus Pocus (1990). In addition to his novels, Vonnegut has written several plays, including Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1960) and Between Time and Timbuktu (1972); short fiction, collected in Canary in a Cathouse (1961) and Welcome to the Monkey House (1968); as well as essays, juvenile literature, and autobiographies. His two autobiographical "collages" (his subtitle for each) are titled Palm Sunday (1981) and Fates Worse than Death (1991). A number of Vonnegut's novels have been produced as plays or films; of these, the most widely known is Universal's 1972 film version of Slaughterhouse Five. In the 1990s Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. continues to write and to lecture at universities, churches, and national conferences. He is an outspoken opponent of censorship and war. Sources: Locher, Frances Carol (ed.) Contemporary Authors. Volumes 77-80. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1979. pp. 423-424. May, Hal and Deborah A. Straub (eds.) Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series, Volume 25. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989. pp. 464-474. Scope and Content Note The Asa Pieratt Collection of Ephemera Relating to Kurt Vonnegut consists of one linear foot of magazine articles, posters, flyers, lectures, tickets, reprints, catalogs, programs, correspondence, and a few typescripts, all of which have a connection to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. or his work. Collected by Asa Pieratt, the ephemera currently spans the years 1972-1996. Mr. Pieratt continues to collect and donate material to this collection. The four series into which the collection is organized reflect the variety of material in the collection. Series I. "Material written or presented by Vonnegut" includes photocopies of Vonnegut's drafts of a preface to the 25th anniversary edition of Slaughterhouse-Five and of his ideas for a screen treatment of Slapstick. The series also includes magazines which contain excerpts from Vonnegut's novel Jailbird, his musical Requiem, and his address to the 25th General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The series also includes a pamphlet of Vonnegut's anti-war lecture, "Fates Worse Than Death," as well as flyers and tickets for his lectures at Midway College and the University of Northern Iowa. Series II. "Performances, productions, and exhibitions based on work by Vonnegut" consists mainly of flyers, programs, reviews and posters which are related to Slaughterhouse -Five, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Requiem, "Who Am I This Time?," and Make Up Your Mind. The material related to Vonnegut's Requiem also consists of several letters, including a photocopy of a letter from Vonnegut to Pieratt remarking on their participation in opening night festivities for Requiem. An invitation and price list for an exhibition of Vonnegut's drawings is also part of Series II. Series III. "Materials relating to publication of Vonnegut's work" consists primarily of publishers' catalogs which advertise books written by Vonnegut. However there are also several books reviews of Vonnegut's work and a poster advertising the Seymour Lawrence editions of Vonnegut's books. Series IV. "Material about Vonnegut and his work" includes magazines which contain interviews with Vonnegut or articles describing Vonnegut's speaking engagements; or flyers and publishers' catalogs advertising bibliographies and films featuring Vonnegut. This collection provides an interesting array of sources which focus on the life and work of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., particularly regarding his speaking engagements and interviews. Related collections: Ms 99 Screenplay for Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick Ms 99 Photocopy of proofs for Vonnegut's Jailbird Ms 99 Photocopy of proofs for Vonnegut's Palm Sunday Ms 259 Seymour Lawrence Publishing Files Related to Kurt Vonnegut Ms 299 Asa Pieratt Papers Relating to Kurt Vonnegut: a comprehensive bibliography Ms 300 Jerome Klinkowitz Papers Relating to Kurt Vonnegut Arrangement Note This collection is organized in four series, as follows: Series I. "Material written or presented by Vonnegut," Series II. "Performances, productions or exhibitions based on work by Vonnegut," Series III. "Material relating to publications of Vonnegut's work," and Series IV. "Material about Vonnegut and his work. The material in each series is arranged in chronological order. Because Mr. Pieratt continues to add material to this collection, the numbering of folders is not sequential for the collection, but rather is unique for each series. Contents List Box -- Folder -- Contents 1 Series I. Material written or presented by Vonnegut, 1975-1993 Includes the text of the preface, lectures, an excerpt for Jailbird, text for Requiem, remarks at "An Authors Symposium for Congress," Vonnegut's screen treatment for Slapstick, and flyers or tickets for Vonnegut addresses. F1 "An Author's Symposium for Congress," 1975 Jun 18 Booklet of remarks, sponsored by the Coalition for Fair Copyright Protection. F2 "An Excerpt for the Best-seller Jailbird," 1979 Oct In United Mainliner, two copies. F3 "Fates Worse Than Death," 1982 May 23 Text of Vonnegut's lecture at St. John the Divine (New York), published by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation (Spokesman pamphlet no. 80). F4 "Requiem: The Hocus Pocus Laundromat," 1986 Dec Photocopy of Vonnegut's article published in North American Review (Dec 1986). See also Series II for other material relating to Requiem. F5 "Love Is Too Strong a Word," 1987 Jan-Feb Magazine and photocopy of Vonnegut's article based on his address at the 25th General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Rochester, NY, on June 25, 1986. Published in The World (Jan-Feb 1987). F6 "Iowa Student as Critic," 1989 Apr 7 Ticket for Vonnegut's address at the University of Northern Iowa. F7 "How to Get a Job Like Mine," 1993 Nov 1 Flyer for a lecture at Midway College, Lexington, Kentucky. F8 Preface to the 25th anniversary edition of Slaughterhouse-Five, [1993] Photocopy of typescript sent to Don Farber by Vonnegut. F9 "Screen Treatment for Slapstick," [n.d.] Photocopy of typescript of Vonnegut's ideas for a film version of Slapstick. F10 "Merlin," 1996 Sep Photocopy of a beer label which bears a short story written by Vonnegut specifically for the "Denver Public Libation" series created by the Wynkoop Brewing Company to honor the new Denver Public Library. Also included are photocopies of publicity for the series and Vonnegut. Wynkoop also created a "Kurt's Mile-High Malt" brew, with a label bearing a Vonnegut self-portrait.
Recommended publications
  • A Discourse of Redemption in Three of Kurt Vonnegut's Novels

    A Discourse of Redemption in Three of Kurt Vonnegut's Novels

    Tutton Parker 1 What’s in the Potato Barn: A Discourse of Redemption in Three of Kurt Vonnegut’s Novels A Thesis Submitted to The Faculty of the College of Arts and Science in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts and English By Rebecca Tutton Parker April 2018 Tutton Parker 2 Liberty University College of Arts and Sciences Master of Arts in English Student Name: Rebecca Tutton Parker Thesis Chair Date First Reader Date Second Reader Date Tutton Parker 3 Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction………………………………………………………………………...4 Chapter Two: Redemption in Slaughterhouse-Five and Bluebeard…………………………..…23 Chapter Three: Rabo Karabekian’s Path to Redemption in Breakfast of Champions…………...42 Chapter Four: How Rabo Karabekian Brings Redemption to Kurt Vonnegut…………………..54 Chapter Five: Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..72 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………..75 Tutton Parker 4 Chapter One: Introduction The Bluebeard folktale has been recorded since the seventeenth century with historical roots even further back in history. What is most commonly referred to as Bluebeard, however, started as a Mother Goose tale transcribed by Charles Perrault in 1697. The story is about a man with a blue beard who had many wives and told them not to go into a certain room of his castle (Hermansson ix). Inevitably when each wife was given the golden key to the room and a chance alone in the house, she would always open the door and find the dead bodies of past wives. She would then meet her own death at the hands of her husband. According to Casie Hermansson, the tale was very popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which spurred many literary figures to adapt it, including James Boswell, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, and Thomas Carlyle (x).
  • It Is Easy to Interpret Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Anthony

    It Is Easy to Interpret Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Anthony

    It is easy to interpret Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange as cynical and pessimistic novels. The profusion of graphic images involving death, gang violence, and war make it difficult to walk away from either text with a hopeful outlook for the future of mankind. Thus, many literary critics label Vonnegut and Burgess as fatalists who argue for an acceptance of deterministic forces that eventually cause humans harm and suffering. However, other critics, such as Liu Hong, Wayne McGinnis, Todd Davis, and Kenneth Womack, all contend that at the end of the day Vonnegut and Burgess offer an opinion of humanity that is hopeful and encouraging. To these critics, the authors ultimately argue that the individual has the ability to determine their own fate in a horrific and often hurtful world. The standard debate concerning these two revolutionary authors has thus been one between a message of either hope or disparagement. It is a debate that has long been discussed among literary critics and continues to be an ever-changing discussion. My contention is that both Vonnegut and Burgess each create a body of work that offers the reader hope, empowerment, and an optimistic outlook of a future that is better than their present, or rather the present setting of their characters. Thus, I agree with critics like McGinnis, who calls Slaughterhouse-Five Vonnegut’s “most hopeful novel to date” (McGinnis 121), or Davis and Womack, who find that A Clockwork Orange’s protagonist ultimately finds a hopeful and optimistic conclusion in embarking “…upon a lifetime of familial commitment and human renewal.” (Davis, Womack 34).
  • The Cases of Venedikt Erofeev, Kurt Vonnegut, and Victor Pelevin

    The Cases of Venedikt Erofeev, Kurt Vonnegut, and Victor Pelevin

    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Scholarship@Western Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-21-2012 12:00 AM Burying Dystopia: the Cases of Venedikt Erofeev, Kurt Vonnegut, and Victor Pelevin Natalya Domina The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Professor Calin-Andrei Mihailescu The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Natalya Domina 2012 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Domina, Natalya, "Burying Dystopia: the Cases of Venedikt Erofeev, Kurt Vonnegut, and Victor Pelevin" (2012). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 834. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/834 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BURYING DYSTOPIA: THE CASES OF VENEDIKT EROFEEV, KURT VONNEGUT, AND VICTOR PELEVIN (Spine Title: BURYING DYSTOPIA) (Thesis Format: Monograph) by Natalya Domina Graduate Program in Comparative Literature A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada Natalya Domina 2012 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners ____________________________ ________________________________ Prof.
  • Cultural Schizophrenia and Science Fiction in Kurt Vonnegut’S

    Cultural Schizophrenia and Science Fiction in Kurt Vonnegut’S

    TIME SKIPS AND TRALFAMADORIANS: CULTURAL SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SCIENCE FICTION IN KURT VONNEGUT’S SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE AND THE SIRENS OF TITAN Gina Marie Gallagher Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of English, Indiana University May 2012 Accepted by the Faculty of Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. Tom Marvin, Ph.D., Chair Master’s Thesis Committee Robert Rebein, Ph.D. Karen Johnson, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the English Department at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, for accepting me as a student and continuing to challenge me as a scholar. This process would not have been possible without my thesis advisor and committee chair member, Dr. Tom Marvin, to whom I am forever indebted. It is also a pleasure to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Robert Rebein and Dr. Karen Johnson. Their help and guidance was invaluable in this process and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such talented professors. Additionally, I would like to extend my gratitude to the entire staff of the English department, in particular the very talented Pat King. I owe my deepest gratitude to my family, who remain the foundation of everything that I do, academic and otherwise. Thank you to my eternally patient, loving and supportive parents, as well as my unofficial literary advisors: Michael, Rory and Angela. iii ABSTRACT Gina Marie Gallagher TIME SKIPS AND TRALFAMADORIANS: CULTURAL SCHIZOPHRENIA AND SCIENCE FICTION IN KURT VONNEGUT’S SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE AND THE SIRENS OF TITAN In his novels Slaughterhouse-five and The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut explores issues of cultural identity in technologically-advanced societies post-World War II.
  • Elements of Gallows Humor in Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five

    Elements of Gallows Humor in Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five

    Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8435 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.41, 2018 Elements of Gallows Humor in Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five Negar Khodabandehloo M.A. Student of Payame Noor University, Arak Branch, Iran Mojgan Eyvazi Assistant professor, English Department,Payam-e-Noor University, Tehran, Iran Abstract This study analyzes the outstanding satirist Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughter-house-five to demonstrate how the elements of Gallows Humor are applied to provide a better understanding of the author's worldview and of his narrative process. This is an anti-war book in which Vonnegut has attempted to blend the serious theme with humor. Through the choice of his protagonist- Billy Pilgrim- and the manipulation of black humor, Vonnegut exposes the atrocities of war from a new viewpoint. The focal point is to extract the phrases containing gallows humor, a sort of black humor, to be studied and explained by details, accordingly some literary terms are to be precisely defined and the unique style of writing is indispensable. Keywords: Anti-war, Black Humor, Gallows Humor, Satire, Humor, Vonnegut 1. Introduction Gallows humor is a kind of black humor in which the threatened person witnesses the oppression. As the name represents, the person threatened is implicated with no hope and no way to escape from the disaster. The misfortune is obvious to him, and he prefers joking about it instead of feeling sorrow. This section includes a definition of the gallows humor followed by some examples for more clarifications. In an essay posted on the website of the Philosophy Club, which meets regularly in Santa Monica, CA.
  • CAT's CRADLE by Kurt Vonnegut

    CAT's CRADLE by Kurt Vonnegut

    CAT'S CRADLE by Kurt Vonnegut Copyright 1963 by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Published by DELL PUBLISHING CO., INC., 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017 All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-440-11149-8 For Kenneth Littauer, a man of gallantry and taste. Nothing in this book is true. "Live by the foma* that makes you brave and kind and healthy and happy." --The Books of Bokonon. 1:5 *Harmless untruths contents 1. The Day the World Ended 2. Nice, Nice, Very Nice 3. Folly 4. A Tentative Tangling of Tendrils 5. Letter from a Pie-med 6. Bug Fights 7. The Illustrious Hoenikkers 8. Newt's Thing with Zinka 9. Vice-president in Charge of Volcanoes 10. Secret Agent X-9 11. Protein 12. End of the World Delight 13. The Jumping-off Place 14. When Automobiles Had Cut-glass Vases 15. Merry Christmas 16. Back to Kindergarten 17. The Girl Pool 18. The Most Valuable Commodity on Earth 19. No More Mud 20. Ice-nine 21. The Marines March On 22. Member of the Yellow Press 23. The Last Batch of Brownies 24. What a Wampeter Is 25. The Main Thing About Dr. Hoenikker 26. What God Is 27. Men from Mars 28. Mayonnaise 29. Gone, but Not Forgotten 30. Only Sleeping 31. Another Breed 32. Dynamite Money 33. An Ungrateful Man 34. Vin-dit 35. Hobby Shop 36. Meow 37. A Modem Major General 38. Barracuda Capital of the World 39. Fata Morgana 40. House of Hope and Mercy 41. A Karass Built for Two 42.
  • Being in the Early Novels of Kurt Vonnegut

    Being in the Early Novels of Kurt Vonnegut

    A MORAL BEING IN AN AESTHETIC WORLD: BEING IN THE EARLY NOVELS OF KURT VONNEGUT BY JAMES HUBBARD A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS English May 2015 Winston-Salem, North Carolina Approved By: James Hans, Ph.D., Advisor Barry Maine, Ph.D., Chair Jefferson Holdridge, Ph.D. Table of Contents Table of Contents ii Abstract iii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Being Thrown 7 Chapter 3: Being as a Happening of Truth 27 Chapter 4: Projecting the Poetry of Being 47 References 53 Curriculum Vitae 54 ii Abstract In this this paper I will address notions of being in four of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels using Martin Heidegger’s aesthetic phenomenology. The four novels that this paper will address are Player Piano, Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions. Player Piano and Sirens of Titan are Vonnegut’s first two novels, and they approach being in terms of what Heidegger referred to as “throwness.” These initial inquiries into aspects of existence give way to a fully developed notion of being in Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. These novels are full aware of themselves has happenings of truth containing something of their author’s own being. Through these happenings, Vonnegut is able to poetically project himself in a way that not only reveals his own being, but also serves as a mirror that can reveal the being of those reflected in it. iii Chapter 1: Introduction Kurt Vonnegut’s literary significance is due, at least in part, to the place that he has carved out for himself in popular culture.
  • Vonnegut's Criticisms of Modern Society Candace Anne Strawn Iowa State University

    Vonnegut's Criticisms of Modern Society Candace Anne Strawn Iowa State University

    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1972 Vonnegut's criticisms of modern society Candace Anne Strawn Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the American Literature Commons, and the Literature in English, North America Commons Recommended Citation Strawn, Candace Anne, "Vonnegut's criticisms of modern society" (1972). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 34. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/34 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ---~- ~--~-~- - Vonnegut's criticisms of modern society by Candace Anne Strawn A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Major: English Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1972 ii. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. SOME PERSPECTIVES OF MODERN SOCIETY 1 II. IRRATIONALITY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR 19 III. DEHUMANIZATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL 29 IV. MAN'S INHUMANITY TO MAN 37 v. CONCLUSION 45 VI. A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 48 1 I. SOME PERSPECTIVES OF MODERN SOCIETY In his age-old effort to predict the future, man has tried many methods, including a careful study of past history. Although the act of predicting social events is largely theoretical--since it is necessarily a tentative process--numerous historians, sociologists, theologians, scientists, and artists persist in discovering trends or seeing patterns in the movement of history.
  • Harrison Bergeron," Which First Appeared in Fantasy Ture Or a Pretty Face, Would Feel Like Something the Cat Drug In

    Harrison Bergeron," Which First Appeared in Fantasy Ture Or a Pretty Face, Would Feel Like Something the Cat Drug In

    KURT VONNEGUT JR. Harrison Ber;geron The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody [Curt Vonnegut Jr. (b. 1922) was born on November 11 in Indianapolis, Indi­ ana. The son ofan architect and a homemaker, he attended Cornell University was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody and Carnegie Mellon University before the outbreak ofWorld War II, when he else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality interrupted his studies to serve in the U.S. Army. As aprisoner ofwar in Dres­ was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitu­ den, Germany, he survived a devastating air raid on February 13, 1945, by tion, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handi­ staying in a meat locker under a slaughterhouse during the bombing. After capper General. World War II, Vonnegut worked in public relations at the General Electric Com­ Some things about living still weren't quite right, though. April, for pany in Schenectady, New York, before becoming a freelance writer. Player instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime. And it was in Piano, his first novel, appeared in 1952, followed by a second fantasy novel, that clammy month that the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron's The Sirens of Titan, in 1959. Two years later he published Mother Night, a fourteen-year-old son, Harrison, away. first-person fictional narrative about World War II.
  • Block Universes and Strange Loop Phenomena In

    Block Universes and Strange Loop Phenomena In

    STRANGE TIME: BLOCK UNIVERSES AND STRANGE LOOP PHENOMENA IN TWO NOVELS BY KURT VONNEGUT by Francis C. Altomare IV A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida August 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express his most sincere thanks to those instrumental in the completion of this thesis, especially Dr. Thomas Martin, Dr. Steven Blakemore, and Dr. Don Adams, all of whose comments and guidance were invaluable in its preparation. In addition, he would like to thank Dr. Nicholas Reboli, Dr. Douglas R. Hofstadter, and Dr. Thomas Goodmann for providing crucial inspiration for this project. The support of Joanne Weiner and the author's colleagues at Private Tutoring Services, Inc. is also greatly appreciated. Lastly, the author would like to thank his family for their unyielding support during the completion of this manuscript. iii ABSTRACT Author: Francis C. Altomare IV Title: Strange Time: Block Universes and Strange Loop Phenomena in Two Novels by Kurt Vonnegut Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Thomas L. Martin Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2010 Einsteinian relativity forever altered our understanding of the metaphysics of time. This study considers how this scientific theory affects the formulation of time in postmodern narratives as a necessary step toward understanding the relationship between empirical science and literary art. Two novels by Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five, exemplify this synthesis. Close readings of these texts reveal an underlying temporal scheme deeply informed by relativity.
  • Slapstick Or Lonesome No More Free

    Slapstick Or Lonesome No More Free

    FREE SLAPSTICK OR LONESOME NO MORE PDF Kurt Vonnegut | 170 pages | 24 May 2016 | Vintage Publishing | 9781784870980 | English | London, United Kingdom Slapstick, or Lonesome No More! by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Slapstick: Or, Lonesome No More! A pseudo-autobiography of how the author imagines his future, Slapstick takes Slapstick or Lonesome No More in an apocalyptic future as Wilbur Daffodil Swain, a former pediatrician and President of the United States, writes a memoir of his life at years old. The story skips around to different periods but is generally told chronologically to explain his current existence in the Empire State Building on the solitary island of Manhattan. Wilbur's childhood is unusual. Born in a set of physically deformed twins, he and his sister Eliza are assumed mentally retarded with short life expectations. Their very wealthy parents fix up an Slapstick or Lonesome No More mansion in Vermont and the locals and a family practitioner care for the children while the parents visit once a year and on birthdays. Wilbur and Eliza quickly educate themselves through the many books in the mansion. While Eliza never grasps reading Slapstick or Lonesome No More writing, she is a creative problem-solver, while Wilbur is very analytical and can read and write. When they are in close proximity to each other, their minds meld to create a 'genius' that becomes the author of several masterpieces of writing and invention. However, they become so consumed by the genius, that they often lose themselves in an incestuous orgy, grasping to get intellectually even closer to each other.
  • Download Full Text In

    Download Full Text In

    European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences EpSBS www.europeanproceedings.com e-ISSN: 2357-1330 DOI: 10.15405/epsbs.2020.11.03.68 DCCD 2020 Dialogue of Cultures - Culture of Dialogue: from Conflicting to Understanding THE HOLY GRAIL AS A DIALOGUE OF STORIES IN THE NOVEL BY KURT VONNEGUT 'BLUEBEARD' Olga I. Nefedova (a)* *Corresponding author (a) Moscow City University, Institute of Foreign Languages, 5B Malyj Kazennyj pereulok, Moscow, Russia, [email protected] Abstract The article is devoted to analyzing a novel by Kurt Vonnegut “Bluebeard” in order to identify some of its allusions and references. The author claims that the text refers to the so-called Matter of Britain, specifically to the adventure of a knight in search of an unreachable sacred object, the Holy Grail. It helps the writer to explore the issues of determining a person’s identity and the purposes of art. The analysis has shown that the main opposition form versus idea reveals itself in the tensions between realism and abstract expressionism in art and between “soul” and “meat” of the main character Rabo Karabekian. The first conflict is tied to the succession of the Fisher King, the keeper of the grail, and his knight: a modernist artist Rabo is a knight for a realist illustrator Dan Gregory and a Fisher King to a popular writer Circe Berman close to social realist philosophy. The second one is connected with his broken communication with people in his life and his quest for belonging and identity. The resolution lies in balance reached through sharing stories about art objects and life experiences.