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Twayne's Masterwork Studies #37
Slaughterhouse-Five: Reforming the Novel and the World
Describes the background of Slaughterhouse-Five, discusses its themes, and looks at its critical reception
118 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1989
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November 23, 2012
Even with as many times as I've read Slaughterhouse Five and as much insight as I've gotten out of it, I still feel like the book has left many questions unanswered. The biggest ones have to do with the book's structure. I realize it was meant, in part, to break down the traditional war narratives typically told—especially of that most heroic of wars, World War II—but how was it necessary to elicit Vonnegut's derived meaning? How do the disparate parts of the novel suggest finding new meanings to life at the same time they suggest meaninglessness? Jerome Klinkowitz's book may answer some of these questions, but it ultimately doesn't add much to what I, for one, already knew.
Reforming the Novel and the World begins with brief sections on putting the book in context and describing its critical reception. It discusses Vonnegut's uniqueness in inserting himself into his narrative and the parallels between Vonnegut as narrator, Billy Pilgrim, and the reader. As Vonnegut is trying to find answers to a massacre, Billy is trying to answer how his mother became so old, and the reader is trying to find Vonnegut's answers scattered throughout the book.
Klinkowitz goes through the New Journalism of the 1960s and how Vonnegut's writing compares. He believes Vonnegut has successfully incorporated the New Journalism into both popular and academically pleasing format for the first time.
Perhaps most interesting is his discussion of Tralfamadorian literature. The Tralfamadorians read books by looking at a number of different passages all at the same time to create an image specific to the sum of all those passages. Clearly, this is not possible for humans to do, but Vonnegut takes steps to bring readers as close as possible to a Tralfamadorian reading. First of all, the atypical structure of the novel itself jumps back and forth creating a jumble of events. However, on top of that, there are tiny occurrences in many seemingly disparate events that link these moments. The linking of these different events almost gives the effect that they can somehow be seen as overlapping. It's not quite the same as a Tralfamadorian reading, but Vonnegut is able to get us closer than most.
Klinkowitz discusses other topics as well, few of which I found all that informative. I did learn a little reading this but was disappointed overall.
Reforming the Novel and the World begins with brief sections on putting the book in context and describing its critical reception. It discusses Vonnegut's uniqueness in inserting himself into his narrative and the parallels between Vonnegut as narrator, Billy Pilgrim, and the reader. As Vonnegut is trying to find answers to a massacre, Billy is trying to answer how his mother became so old, and the reader is trying to find Vonnegut's answers scattered throughout the book.
Klinkowitz goes through the New Journalism of the 1960s and how Vonnegut's writing compares. He believes Vonnegut has successfully incorporated the New Journalism into both popular and academically pleasing format for the first time.
Perhaps most interesting is his discussion of Tralfamadorian literature. The Tralfamadorians read books by looking at a number of different passages all at the same time to create an image specific to the sum of all those passages. Clearly, this is not possible for humans to do, but Vonnegut takes steps to bring readers as close as possible to a Tralfamadorian reading. First of all, the atypical structure of the novel itself jumps back and forth creating a jumble of events. However, on top of that, there are tiny occurrences in many seemingly disparate events that link these moments. The linking of these different events almost gives the effect that they can somehow be seen as overlapping. It's not quite the same as a Tralfamadorian reading, but Vonnegut is able to get us closer than most.
Klinkowitz discusses other topics as well, few of which I found all that informative. I did learn a little reading this but was disappointed overall.
Displaying 1 of 1 review