Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was a 20th century literary icon whose career spanned a whopping fifty years and includes the publication of fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of nonfiction. He is probably best known for his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, a book that while darkly satirical, also pulls from Vonnegut’s firsthand experience as a prisoner of war in World War II and pushes a relatively anti-war sentiment. I have had numerous requests to cover the life of Vonnegut, and I am going to admit I learned a lot about this author that I had never known before. Throughout his eighty four years, Vonnegut saw the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, I mean, the list goes on and on and on…its incredible to realize how much change one man could witness in just one life. And Kurt’s life definitely had its ups and downs…his once wealthy parents struggled during the 1930s when their money went dry, he fought and was captured in World War II, only to witness atrocities we might only see in our nightmares, he adopted his sister’s children when she and her husband died, and on top of all that, Vonnegut suffered from depression that nearly took his life in the mid 1980s. Oh, and let’s not forget that he kept steady work until his writing career was financially successful. This man was a fighter and a survivor, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself just yet – there are so many aspects of this writer to explore, the majority of which are quite dark and riddled with human tragedy. And what are those aspects, you might ask? Well, let’s get rolling with episode six, and see if you get there before I do.
Kurt Vonnegut, here we go!