No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1971. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 286-288).

The six novels of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. demonstrate a continuing interest in the dilemmas confronting persons whose dreams of individual fulfillment are greatly at odds with the demands made of them as public persons. The protagonists experience the full opposition between the world they imagine and the world they inhabit. They are forced repeatedly to choose between their privately created and publicly imposed roles. They resemble one another in their reluctance to participate in a chaotic and destructive world and in their preference to retreat into fantasy worlds of their own creation. Although each of the fantasies differs from the others in many respects, each is an attempt to provide what Kilgore Trout, one of Vonnegut’s fictional characters, refers to as "fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world. The utopian fantasies include Paul Proteus' desire to retreat to a mythic frontier setting, long since replaced by a technological society; Malachi Constant' s dream of reunion with his wife and best friend in an ideal state beyond time; Howard Campbell's refuge in a world of art; Jonah's fascination with Bokononism; Eliot Rosewater' s plan to redeem mankind; and Billy Pilgrim's belief that it is possible for man to experience life in a way that renders pain and death meaningless. The novels offer an apocalyptic view of a world that is determined to destroy itself by any and every means available. If Vonnegut’s protagonists seem to offer absurdly ideal remedies for this situation, the reality that Vonnegut describes is no less absurd for being real. The real and imaginary worlds described by Vonnegut are poles apart. Both are extremities, one the result of an insane destructive impulse, the other of an insane creative impulse. Underlying all of Vonnegut's fictions is a real experience, the fire-bombing of Dresden by the Allies in World War II. It is this terrifyingly real experience that has moved Vonnegut to examine the ideal, or what might have been, in the context of the real, or what is. The paradox which lies at the center of Bokononism is the paradox in each of Vonnegut's novels: “the heartbreaking necessity of lying about reality and the heartbreaking impossibility of lying about it. A discussion of this paradox involves an examination of Vonnegut’s attitude with regard to his protagonists. Vonnegut invites this examination by raising questions about the difficulty of writing fiction in such times as ours, and one can see in the course of the novels a clarification of his position. The conflict between the world we imagine and the world we inhabit has serious implications for the writer. The novels are discussed in chronological sequence beginning with Player Piano, his first novel, and ending with his most recent, Slaughterhouse-Five. This appears the most practical method of tracing emerging themes and, particularly, of examining the evolution of the authorial point of view. Vonnegut offers no reassuring solutions to the problems he examines in his novels. At times his sardonic comments express his bitter disappointment in our collective failure. At other times he expresses the hope that mankind will change and seek a creative course rather than a destructive one. His novels teach us that to accept passively a reality that seeks to destroy life is to demonstrate a failure of the imagination, while to retreat into fantasies which are distant from reality is extremely dangerous. Vonnegut insists upon the continual vigilance of the critical imagination, and an awareness of our limitations as well as our possibilities. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

Note:

Kurt Vonnegut's early science fiction novels depict societies and characters that, as in the real world, have become callous and downtrodden. These works use supercomputers, aliens, and space travel, often in a comical manner, to demonstrate that the future, unless people change their concepts of humanity, will not be the paradise of advanced technology and human harmony that some may expect. In fact, Vonnegut suggests that the human condition may gradually worsen if people continue to look further and further into the universe for happiness and purpose. To Vonnegut, the key to happiness is dignity, and this key is to be found within ourselves, not without.

In my research into interdisciplinary choreographic processes, I found there to be a lacking representation of recent scholarship dedicated to exploring the relationship between literature and dance. As a dance theatre choreographer who often utilizes textual sources as impetuses for artistic creation, I have employed methods of traditional dramaturgy in my practice and, in seeking scholarship on this subject, have noted a need for clear examples of dance dramaturgy in practice. In this thesis study, I employed methods from literary studies and dramaturgy in the process of adapting a work of short fiction by Kurt Vonnegut for the stage. I documented my process and have structured the information for the benefit of those who may read it. The artistic product of this research was presented to an audience in direct relation to its literary source. At the conclusion of this research, I posit that dance can function as literary criticism.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2006. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 284-293).

Uppsatsen har som mål att se hur läsningen av Kurt Vonnegut kan kompletteras med ekokritiska perspektiv. Som ämne valdes hot mot planeten och det undersökta materialet var fyra av Vonneguts böcker: Player Piano (1954), Breakfast of Champions (1973), Slapstick (1976) samt A Man without a Country (2005). Böckerna undersöktes utifrån frågorna: Har det tidigare i Vonneguts författarskap förekommit hot mot planeten? Vilka är i sådana fall dessa hot och vilka är aktörerna bakom hoten? samt Hur framställs hoten och hur har hoten och framställningen förändrats från Vonneguts debut till hans avslutande roman? Undersökningen visade att det genom hela Vonneguts författarskap har funnits ett tema som säger att livet som levs är ohållbart. Det tar sig form i olika hotbilder mot planeten. Dessa hot består fram för allt i konsumtion av fossila bränslen, västerländsk kultur och människans natur. Den primära förändringen mellan böckerna är att Vonnegut skiftar mellan att lägga skulden på människans natur och västerländsk kultur. Framställningen går också från att vara processdriven till att domineras av direkt anföring. Vonnegut går även från ett extra-heterodiegetiskt berättande till ett intra-homodiegetiskt. Samtidigt blir stoffet allt mer personligt.

Thesis : Martin-Luther-Univ., Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Deutschland, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.