Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.
Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.( 1922– ),born in Indianapolis, studied biochemistry at Cornell before being drafted into the infantry in World War II. Captured by the Germans, he was working in the underground meat locker of a slaughterhouse in Dresden when that city was annihilated by U.S. and British bombs. He emerged to find “135,000 Hansels and Gretels had been baked like gingerbread men.” After the war Vonnegut studied anthropology at the University of Chicago and worked in public relations for General Electric. His first novel, Player Piano (1952), satirizes the tyrannies of automation observed at G.E. and his second, The Sirens of Titan (1959), uses the mode of science fiction. Mother Night (1961) presents an American spy in Germany during World War II who transmits secret messages via open pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic radio talks; its moral, Vonnegut declared, was that “We are what we pretend to be.” Cat's Cradle (1963),...
[The entire page is 530 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
