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About the Author

January 19, 2009 admin 0

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 11, 1922, the son of accomplished German immigrants. His grandfather held the distinction of being […]

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Overview

January 19, 2009 admin 0

Vonnegut’s dramatic, tragic younger life greatly influences his fiction and establishes a framework for most of his themes. His immigrant family achieved the grandest of […]

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Setting

January 19, 2009 admin 0

For many years categorized strictly as a writer of science fiction, Vonnegut has a propensity for mixing the ordinary and the otherworldly in his fiction. […]

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Themes and Characters

January 19, 2009 admin 0

A novel about man’s folly, Slaughterhouse-Five traces the wanderings through time and space of Billy Pilgrim, a survivor of the fire bombing of Dresden. Billy […]

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Literary Qualities

January 19, 2009 admin 0

Vonnegut’s title page statement that Slaughterhouse-Five is written in a “telegraphic schizophrenic manner” is a fairly accurate description of the novel’s stylistic approach. Drawing on […]

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Social Sensitivity

January 19, 2009 admin 0

The 1960s produced a string of novels of the absurd that reflect the bleakness of a time when unabated optimism was checked by the assassinations […]

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Ideas and Topics for Papers

January 19, 2009 admin 0

VII TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Describe the Tralfamadorian philosophy of life. How do the Tralfamadorians describe the fate of the universe? How do they react […]

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Related Titles and Adaptations

January 19, 2009 admin 0

Just as Vonnegut mixes history and fantasy in Slaughterhouse-Five, he also combines new material with characters and references to his earlier fiction in the book. […]