Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five

by Harold Bloom, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

- Critical essays reflecting a variety of schools of criticism
- Notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index
- An introductory essay by Harold Bloom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

183 pages, Library Binding

First published January 11, 2001

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Larry]

4.5 So it Goes.

[Nicholas Spies]

I've only read the original, which in some respects is auto-biographical, in that Vonnegut was a prisoner-of-war in Dresden, and survived the Dresden firebombing. My interest in this is that my grandmother also survived the Dresden bombing, in a building that was the only one still standing for blocks in every direction. The bombing was an allied payback for the equally senseless German bombing of Coventry. The latter was allowed to happen so the Germans would not be tipped off that the British had broken the Luftwaffe Enigma code, by efforts that involved Alan Turing and many others at Benchley Park more of less in the center of England.

Now Dresden and Coventry are sister cities, and the famous Frauenkirche in Dresden (which was meticulously restored only after the reunification of Germany after the Soviet Union collapsed) is crowned by an Angel blowing a trumpet. This Angel was fashioned by a craftsman from Coventry, whose father had been in one of the British bombers, where it was said that during the raid one could read maps illuminated by the inferno below.

This has little to do with Vonnegut's book, but to tell more about it would be a spoiler. At least one film was made of the book, but there is no substitute to reading the original. (I guess now I have to read the book mentioned above...)

[Roy]

I rather think we need a distinction between "literature about chaos" and "chaotic literature".

[Alexander]

Honestly everytime they started talking about the relationship between reality and fiction in this work I was sitting there going are we not going to mention that his source for some of this was David Irving???

[Michael]

Growing up in the 1980s, I was always a fan of journalist Linda Ellerbee. I always wondered why she ended her broadcasts with the phrase "And so it goes."
When I read this book recently, I was reminded that after John Pilgrim discussed anyone's death, he would end the paragraph with "So it goes." This little observation reminds me of how important this book was to many people of the post-war generation.
The book, as most of you know, was written by Vonnegut, a former POW and survivor of the Dresden bombings. In the book, the main character (John Pilgrim) leaps around in time and in place, from Earth to a distant planet, from 1945 to his death in the 1970s, and back again.
I think this book was important for many people who grew up like Ellerbee and me, in post WWII America. It showed the arbitrary nature of life, the futility of many of our endeavors, but still had a bit of hopefulness in the contemplation that time never really passes--it always just is.
If you haven't read it, or haven't read it since high school, you should read it now, or read it again.

[Lynne]

I only read this book for one of my book challenges where I had to read a science fiction book. Luckily it was a quick read because I can't stand books with flying saucers and aliens. Tolerable only because every once in a while Vonnegut came out of his schizophrenic state and wrote a semi-coherent story about fighting in the war as well as his bizarre relationship with his wife, but otherwise I couldn't stand the jumping back and forth between normal life (if you can call it that) and the time-travel and alien encounters. Ugh.

I'm not a psychiatrist, but did anyone ever question Vonnegut's mental state when he was alive? Or is this just how science fiction books are. I don't know.

[Katie]

read this while deployed. was my first vonnegut book. a lot different than i expected. Loved it. Loved the alien concept that moments in time occur independently of eachother, and that we only perceive them to be sequential in our minds. Favorite part was the describing of the main character watching a video of bombs dropping in reverse, was beautiful.

[Martinray2]

No one exposes stupidity more acerbically and with the level of precision and wit of Kurt Vonnegut.

He often hilariously lances accepted ignorances with his dagger of poignance and surrealistic wry humor.

[Julie Chant]

He is one of my favourite writers.

[Steve Murphy]

Amazing story. I often felt that the flashback scenes were inspired by what Vonnegut must have experienced as a WWII vet.

[Cris Bergin]

Worse book I've ever read. I had to finish it because I assumed it had to be a good book. Vonnegut is considered a literary contemporary writer! Waste of my time and yours....don't bother!

[Ruxandra]

It is a great companion for Vonnegut's book. It clarified so many things.

[Hayden]

Blooms analysis is lacking, I'd only recommend this to those who haven't read the source text.

[Terry]

I wish I had Vonnegut's imagination.

[Omar]

Haha boohoo