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The Vonnegut Effect
Looks at Kurt Vonnegut's fiction chronologically, investigating the social and critical contexts in which it developed, as well as providing an examination of the author's nonfiction works and public statements.
- GenresNonfiction
210 pages, Hardcover
First published January 22, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 2, 2021
Unraveling Vonnegut's Popular Appeal and Literary Innovation - Among the various critical works, this reviewer found the "Vonnegut Effect" one of the most helpful aids in "getting the line on" and understanding Vonnegut's popular appeal and literary innovation.
Particularly notable to this reviewer was Klikowitz's emphasis on how Vonnegut's fiction benefited from his professional training in biochemistry, journalism, and anthropology. For instance, related to the latter, Klinkowitz periodically shows ways Vonnegut's rejected masters thesis at the University of Chicago graphing fluctuations between good and evil in the stories comparing primitive and civilized groups plays a role in his creative efforts. Using this knowledge, Vonnegut chose easily recognizable sub-genres and story lines, e.g. space opera for "Sirens of Titan," spy thriller for "Mother Night," apocalyptic narrative for "Cats Cradle," to undergird his experimental fiction. When a chronological story line did not work in writing "Slaughterhouse Five," Vonnegut incorporated the telephone line winding it back in forth in time to make sense of life as a World War II soldier and Dresden bombing survivor.
Klinkowitz goes on to show how Vonnegut continued to incorporate such devices and increasingly his own experience in his popular work. Most significant for this reviewer was mention of the way Vonnegut included boldly simple lined felt pen drawings in "Breakfast of Champions" to at the same time de-familiarize and use American texts known from childhood to offer cultural revelations for those times. Using such drawings later in his silkscreen art with Joe Petro and his graphing of stories within his later year writing and talks, Vonnegut provided a multifaceted stream of entertaining life lessons.
Readily go to Klinkowitz to unravel such aspects of the Vonnegut effect.
Particularly notable to this reviewer was Klikowitz's emphasis on how Vonnegut's fiction benefited from his professional training in biochemistry, journalism, and anthropology. For instance, related to the latter, Klinkowitz periodically shows ways Vonnegut's rejected masters thesis at the University of Chicago graphing fluctuations between good and evil in the stories comparing primitive and civilized groups plays a role in his creative efforts. Using this knowledge, Vonnegut chose easily recognizable sub-genres and story lines, e.g. space opera for "Sirens of Titan," spy thriller for "Mother Night," apocalyptic narrative for "Cats Cradle," to undergird his experimental fiction. When a chronological story line did not work in writing "Slaughterhouse Five," Vonnegut incorporated the telephone line winding it back in forth in time to make sense of life as a World War II soldier and Dresden bombing survivor.
Klinkowitz goes on to show how Vonnegut continued to incorporate such devices and increasingly his own experience in his popular work. Most significant for this reviewer was mention of the way Vonnegut included boldly simple lined felt pen drawings in "Breakfast of Champions" to at the same time de-familiarize and use American texts known from childhood to offer cultural revelations for those times. Using such drawings later in his silkscreen art with Joe Petro and his graphing of stories within his later year writing and talks, Vonnegut provided a multifaceted stream of entertaining life lessons.
Readily go to Klinkowitz to unravel such aspects of the Vonnegut effect.
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November 30, 2009I think I'll need to read a lot more Vonnegut before I can compare my take objectively.
December 1, 2015
I enjoyed the analysis and where it took Vonnegut's works.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews