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Kurt Vonnegut

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Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut ( VON-ə-gət; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty years; further works have been published since his death. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Vonnegut attended Cornell University, but withdrew in January 1943 and enlisted in the U.S. Army. As part of his training, he studied mechanical engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee. He was then deployed to Europe to fight in World War II and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was interned in Dresden, where he survived the Allied bombing of the city in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned. After the war, he married Jane Marie Cox. He and his wife both attended the University of Chicago while he worked as a night reporter for the City News Bureau. Vonnegut published his first novel, Player Piano, in 1952. It received favorable reviews yet sold poorly. In the nearly 20 years that followed, several well-regarded novels were published, including The Sirens of Titan (1959) and Cat's Cradle (1963), both of which were nominated for the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel of the year. His short-story collection, Welcome to the Monkey House, was published in 1968. Vonnegut's breakthrough was his commercially and critically successful sixth novel, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969). Its anti-war sentiment resonated with its readers amid the Vietnam War, and its reviews were generally positive. It rose to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list and made Vonnegut famous. Later in his career, Vonnegut published autobiographical essays and short-story collections such as Fates Worse Than Death (1991) and A Man Without a Country (2005). He has been hailed for his darkly humorous commentary on American society. His son Mark published a compilation of his work, Armageddon in Retrospect, in 2008. In 2017, Seven Stories Press published Complete Stories, a collection of Vonnegut's short fiction.

Infobox

Born
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.(1922-11-11)November 11, 1922Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died
April 11, 2007(2007-04-11) (aged 84)New York City, U.S.
Resting place
Crown Hill Cemetery and Arborteum Sec 6, Lot 4 39°49′12″N 86°10′43″W / 39.8199785°N 86.17850392°W / 39.8199785; -86.17850392
Occupation
Author
Education
mw- Cornell UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of TennesseeUniversity of Chicago (MA)
Genre
mw- li , li Satire, gallows humor, science fiction
Literary movement
Postmodernism
Years active
1951–2007
Notable works
Slaughterhouse-FiveCat's Cradle
Spouse
mw- Jane Marie Cox (m. 1945; div. 1971) Jill Krementz (m. 1979)
Children
3 biological, including Mark and Edith4 adopted, including Steve Adams

Tables

· Writing › Awards and nominations
International Fantasy Award
International Fantasy Award
Award
International Fantasy Award
Year
1953
Category
-
Book
Player Piano
Result
Nominated
Ref.
-
Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
Award
Writers Guild of America Award
Year
1960
Category
Television script
Book
"Auf Wiedersehen"
Result
Won
Ref.
-
Hugo Award
Hugo Award
Award
Hugo Award
Year
1960
Category
Best Novel
Book
The Sirens of Titan
Result
Nominated
Hugo Award
Hugo Award
Award
Hugo Award
Year
1964
Category
Best Novel
Book
Cat's Cradle
Result
Nominated
Nebula Award
Nebula Award
Award
Nebula Award
Year
1970
Category
Best Novel
Book
Slaughterhouse-Five
Result
Nominated
Hugo Award
Hugo Award
Award
Hugo Award
Year
1970
Category
Best Novel
Book
Slaughterhouse-Five
Result
Nominated
Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
Award
Drama Desk Award
Year
1971
Category
Outstanding New Play
Book
Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Result
Won
Ref.
-
Seiun Award
Seiun Award
Award
Seiun Award
Year
1973
Category
Foreign Novel
Book
The Sirens of Titan
Result
Won
Ref.
-
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
Award
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
Year
1973
Category
Best Dramatic Presentation
Book
Slaughterhouse-Five
Result
Won
Ref.
-
John W. Campbell Award
John W. Campbell Award
Award
John W. Campbell Award
Year
1986
Category
Best Science Fiction Novel
Book
Galápagos
Result
Nominated
Audie Award
Audie Award
Award
Audie Award
Year
2009
Category
Short Stories/Collections
Book
Armageddon in Retrospect
Result
Won
Ref.
-
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
Award
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
Year
2015
Category
-
Book
-
Result
Inducted
Ref.
-
Award
Year
Category
Book
Result
Ref.
International Fantasy Award
1953
-
Player Piano
Nominated
-
Writers Guild of America Award
1960
Television script
"Auf Wiedersehen"
Won
-
Hugo Award
1960
Best Novel
The Sirens of Titan
Nominated
Hugo Award
1964
Best Novel
Cat's Cradle
Nominated
Nebula Award
1970
Best Novel
Slaughterhouse-Five
Nominated
Hugo Award
1970
Best Novel
Slaughterhouse-Five
Nominated
Drama Desk Award
1971
Outstanding New Play
Happy Birthday, Wanda June
Won
-
Seiun Award
1973
Foreign Novel
The Sirens of Titan
Won
-
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
1973
Best Dramatic Presentation
Slaughterhouse-Five
Won
-
John W. Campbell Award
1986
Best Science Fiction Novel
Galápagos
Nominated
Audie Award
2009
Short Stories/Collections
Armageddon in Retrospect
Won
-
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
2015
-
-
Inducted
-

References

  1. In fact, Vonnegut often described himself as a "child of the Great Depression." He also stated the Depression and its ef
  2. Kurt Sr. was embittered by his own lack of work as an architect during the Great Depression and feared a similar fate fo
  3. Britannica
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Vonnegut
  4. www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
    http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1733.html
  5. Boomhower 1999; Farrell 2009, pp. 4–5.
  6. Marvin 2002, p. 2.
  7. Sharp 2006, p. 1360.
  8. Marvin 2002, p. 2; Farrell 2009, pp. 3–4.
  9. Marvin 2002, p. 4.
  10. Sharp 2006, p. 1360.
  11. Boomhower 1999.
  12. Sumner 2014.
  13. Sharp 2006, p. 1360; Marvin 2002, pp. 2–3.
  14. Marvin 2002, pp. 2–3.
  15. Farrell 2009, p. 5; Boomhower 1999.
  16. Sumner 2014; Farrell 2009, p. 5.
  17. Shields 2011, p. 41.
  18. Lowery 2007.
  19. Farrell 2009, p. 5.
  20. Shields 2011, pp. 41–42.
  21. Shields 2011, pp. 44–45.
  22. Shields 2011, pp. 45–49.
  23. Shields 2011, pp. 50–51.
  24. Farrell 2009, p. 6.
  25. Farrell 2009, p. 6; Marvin 2002, p. 3.
  26. Sharp 2006, p. 1363; Farrell 2009, p. 6.
  27. Vonnegut 2008.
  28. Hayman et al. 1977.
  29. Boomhower 1999; Farrell 2009, pp. 6–7.
  30. Bookworm
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  31. Dalton 2011.
  32. Thomas 2006, p. 7; Shields 2011, pp. 80–82.
  33. Fates worse than death: an autobiographical collage of the 1980s
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  34. Smith 2007.
  35. chronicle.uchicago.edu
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  36. Strand 2015, p. 26
  37. Penguin Random House Canada
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  38. Electric Literature
    http://electricliterature.com/kurt-vonneguts-graduation-speech-what-the-ghost-dance-of-the-native-americans-and-the-french/
  39. "Of Ghost Shirts and Gizmos"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20170518201902/https://salo.iu.edu/index.php/of-ghost-shirts-and-gizmos-phillips-on-player-piano/
  40. The Vonnegut Effect
    https://books.google.com/books?id=3nwMCAAAQBAJ
  41. archive.nytimes.com
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  42. Vonnegut 2009, p. 285.
  43. Marvin 2002, p. 7.
  44. Noble 2017, p. 166: "In the early 1950s novelist Kurt Vonnegut was a technical writer and publicist at GE headquarters i
  45. Strand 2015, p. 81
  46. Strand 2015, p. 87
  47. Strand 2015, p. 89
  48. Boomhower 1999; Sumner 2014; Farrell 2009, pp. 7–8.
  49. Strand 2015, p. 117
  50. Shields 2011, p. 115.
  51. Boomhower 1999; Hayman et al. 1977; Farrell 2009, p. 8.
  52. Cape Cod Times
    https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/entertainment/books/2014/10/09/cape-ties-to-writer-kurt/36022438007/
  53. Boomhower 1999; Farrell 2009, pp. 8–9; Marvin 2002, p. 25.
  54. Strand 2015, pp. 202–212
  55. Allen 1991, pp. 20–30.
  56. Allen 1991, p. 32.
  57. Shields 2011, p. 142.
  58. The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/03/crosswords/kurt-vonnegut-board-game-ghq.html
  59. Farrell 2009, p. 9.
  60. Shields 2011, p. 164.
  61. Shields 2011, pp. 159–161.
  62. Allen 1991, p. 39.
  63. Allen 1991, p. 40.
  64. Shields 2011, pp. 171–173.
  65. Morse 2003, p. 19.
  66. Leeds 1995, p. 46.
  67. Hattenhauer 1998, p. 387.
  68. Allen 1991, p. 53.
  69. Strand 2015, pp. 236–237
  70. Allen 1991, pp. 54–65.
  71. Morse 2003, pp. 62–63.
  72. Shields 2011, pp. 182–183.
  73. Allen 1991, p. 75.
  74. The New York Times
    https://movies2.nytimes.com/library/books/052499vonnegut-writing.html
  75. Shields 2011, pp. 219–228.
  76. Allen, pp. 82–85.
  77. Strand 2015, pp. 49–50.
  78. Shields 2011, pp. 248–249.
  79. Shields 2011, p. 254.
  80. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
    https://books.google.com/books?id=WKdcCgk_FowC&pg=PA12
  81. Kurt Vonnegut's America
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  82. Marvin 2002, p. 10.
  83. Marquis Biographies Online
    http://search.marquiswhoswho.com/profile/100002675801
  84. Marvin 2002, p. 11.
  85. Hischak 2012, p. 31.
  86. Lehmann-Haupt 1976.
  87. Sumner 2014.
  88. Encyclopedia Britannica
    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Vonnegut
  89. Marvin 2002, p. 12.
  90. Wolff 1987.
  91. Farrell 2009, p. 451.
  92. Grossman 2007.
  93. Allen.
  94. Blount 2008.
  95. Banach 2013.
  96. Rodriguez 2007.
  97. Blogs.cofc.edu
    http://blogs.cofc.edu/vonnegut/
  98. Kunze & Tally 2012, p. 7.
  99. Harris 2011.
  100. Morais 2011.
  101. Tally 2013, pp. 14–15.
  102. Davis 2006, p. 2.
  103. Morse 2013, p. 56.
  104. Tally 2011, p. 158.
  105. "2015 SF&F Hall of Fame Inductees & James Gunn Fundraiser" Archived July 15, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. June 12, 2015
    http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/06/2014-science-fiction-hall-of-fame-inductees-and-fundraiser#sthash.uwR4dGzo.dpuf
  106. "Kurt Vonnegut: American author who combined satiric social commentary with surrealist and science fictional elements" (
    http://www.empmuseum.org/at-the-museum/museum-features/science-fiction-and-fantasy-hall-of-fame/members/kurt-vonnegut.aspx
  107. Sci-Fi Chronicles: A Visual History of the Galaxy's Greatest Science Fiction
  108. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
    https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15623
  109. AP News
    https://apnews.com/article/business-arts-and-entertainment-education-indiana-indianapolis-a6cac8becb415142b9c43494016e53b8
  110. LinC 1987 Yearbook
    https://archive.org/details/linc1987univ/page/34/mode/2up
  111. The Guardian
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  112. NPR 2011.
  113. Daily Telegraph 2007.
  114. Freese 2013, p. 101.
  115. Leeds 1995, p. 2.
  116. Leeds 1995, p. 68.
  117. Leeds 1995, pp. 1–2.
  118. Vonnegut 1999, introduction.
  119. Vonnegut 2009, pp. 177, 185, 191.
  120. Niose 2007.
  121. Leeds 1995, p. 480.
  122. Sharp 2006, p. 1366.
  123. Vonnegut 1982, p. 327.
  124. Image
    https://www.imagejournal.org/article/kurt-vonnegut/
  125. Davis 2006, p. 142.
  126. Vonnegut 2006b.
  127. Leeds 1995, p. 525.
  128. Farrell 2009, p. 141.
  129. Vonnegut 2009, p. 191.
  130. Kohn 2001.
  131. Leeds 1995, pp. 477–479.
  132. Marvin 2002, p. 78.
  133. If This Isn't Nice, What Is?
  134. Zinn & Arnove 2009, p. 620.
  135. Vonnegut 2006a, "In a Manner that Must Shame God Himself".
  136. Sharp 2006, pp. 1364–1365.
  137. Gannon & Taylor 2013.
  138. Sharp 2006, p. 1364.
  139. Zinn & Arnove 2009, p. 618.
  140. Sharp 2006, p. 1365.
  141. A Man Without a Country
  142. Claremont Review of Books
    https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/folk-tales/
  143. Democracy's Literature: Politics and Fiction in America
  144. The Artist and Political Vision
  145. American Political Thought
    https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/705602
  146. Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons (Opinions)
  147. Timequake
  148. A Man Without a Country
  149. Marvin 2002, pp. 17–18.
  150. Marvin 2002, p. 18.
  151. Marvin 2002, p. 19.
  152. Strand 2015, pp. 155–156.
  153. Barsamian 2004, p. 15.
  154. Hayman et al. 1977.
  155. Marvin 2002, pp. 18–19.
  156. Pity The Reader: On Writing With Style
  157. Poets & Writers
    https://www.pw.org/content/kurt_vonnegut_on_writing_and_talent
  158. Extence 2013.
  159. Sharp 2006, pp. 1363–1364.
  160. Davis 2006, pp. 45–46.
  161. Tally 2011, p. 157.
  162. Tally 2011, pp. 103–105.
  163. Kunze & Tally 2012, introduction.
  164. Marvin 2002, p. 16.
  165. Marvin 2002, p. 13.
  166. Marvin 2002, pp. 14–15.
  167. Marvin 2002, p. 15.
  168. Jensen 2016, pp. 8–11.
  169. Marvin 2002, pp. 16–17.
  170. Marvin 2002, pp. 19, 44–45.
  171. Strand 2015, pp. 147–157.
  172. Strand 2015, p. 245.
  173. Marvin 2002, p. 20.
  174. Sharp 2006, pp. 1365–1366.
  175. Marvin 2002, p. 21.
  176. Breaking Down Vonnegut
    https://books.google.com/books?id=Zm5WEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84
  177. Slaughterhouse-Five
    https://books.google.com/books?id=Gc_SLksZVB4C&pg=PA110
  178. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,
    https://books.google.com/books?id=R9cLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA149
  179. The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places
    https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofscie0000unse/page/308/mode/2up
  180. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991
    https://archive.org/details/imaginaryhomelan0000unse/page/358/mode/2up
  181. Kurt Vonnegut and the Centrifugal Force of Fate
  182. Slaughterhouse-Five
    https://books.google.com/books?id=Gc_SLksZVB4C&pg=PA47
  183. "1960 Award Winners & Nominees"
    https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1960
  184. "Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut"
    https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=315
  185. "1969 Award Winners & Nominees"
    https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1969
  186. "1970 Award Winners & Nominees"
    https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1970
  187. "1986 Award Winners & Nominees"
    https://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1986
  188. Marvin 2002, pp. 157–158.
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