Forever Pursuing Genesis

Forever Pursuing Genesis PDF Author: Leonard Mustazza
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
ISBN: 9780838751763
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The title of this book, Forever Pursuing Genesis, derives from a statement that Vonnegut once made about the nature of the universe and humankind's place in it. This study applies that statement to the narrative themes that Vonnegut has treated in his career.

Forever Pursuing Genesis

Forever Pursuing Genesis PDF Author: Leonard Mustazza
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
ISBN: 9780838751763
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The title of this book, Forever Pursuing Genesis, derives from a statement that Vonnegut once made about the nature of the universe and humankind's place in it. This study applies that statement to the narrative themes that Vonnegut has treated in his career.

Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade; or, How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism

Kurt Vonnegut's Crusade; or, How a Postmodern Harlequin Preached a New Kind of Humanism PDF Author: Todd F. Davis
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791482138
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
"I've worried some about why write books when presidents and senators and generals do not read them, and the university experience taught me a very good reason: you catch people before they become generals and senators and presidents, and you poison their minds with humanity. Encourage them to make a better world." — Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut's desire to save the planet from environmental and military destruction, to enact change by telling stories that both critique and embrace humanity, sets him apart from many of the postmodern authors who rose to prominence during the 1960s and 1970s. This new look at Vonnegut's oeuvre examines his insistence that writing is an "act of good citizenship or an attempt, at any rate, to be a good citizen." By exploring the moral and philosophical underpinnings of Vonnegut's work, Todd F. Davis demonstrates that, over the course of his long career, Vonnegut has created a new kind of humanism that not only bridges the modern and postmodern, but also offers hope for the power and possibilities of story. Davis highlights the ways Vonnegut deconstructs and demystifies the "grand narratives" of American culture while offering provisional narratives—petites histoires—that may serve as tools for daily living.

At Millennium's End

At Millennium's End PDF Author: Kevin Alexander Boon
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791449301
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Collected essays by noted scholars covering the breadth and influence of Kurt Vonnegut's literature.

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut PDF Author: Kevin Alexander Boon
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 1608707636
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
Kurt Vonnegut was an American novelist, short story writer, playwright and also published five works of non-fiction. His careers spans 50 years. This book features an in-depth look the life of the author as well as a close examination of the most widely-read of his works. Plot summary, excerpts, character analysis, and themes for each work covered are revealed. Critical analysis from differing points of view of the work is also presented. With this informational book, students learn how to identify themes, analyze how elements in the text interact and how to identify the informational context behind fictional treatment of words.

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature

Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature PDF Author: Brian M. Stableford
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810849389
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
This reference tracks the development of speculative fiction influenced by the advancement of science and the idea of progress from the eighteenth century to the present day. The major authors and publications of the genre and significant subgenres are covered. Additionally there are entries on fields of science and technology which have been particularly prolific in provoking such speculation. The list of acronyms and abbreviations, the chronology covering the literature from the 1700s through the present, the introductory essay, and the dictionary entries provide science fiction novices and enthusiasts as well as serious writers and critics with a wonderful foundation for understanding the realm of science fiction literature. The extensive bibliography that includes books, journals, fanzines, and websites demonstrates that science fiction literature commands a massive following.

The Role of Science Fiction

The Role of Science Fiction PDF Author: Stefan Weißhampel
Publisher: diplom.de
ISBN: 383661006X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: Since Kurt Vonnegut passed away aged 84 earlier this year (11th April 2007), his life and work received considerable media recognition. While FOX-news could not refrain from expressing rather hostile criticism in their Vonnegut obituary, admirers of Vonnegut's works reacted with angry comments to the aforementioned programme. All over the internet bloggers expressed their regrets and wrote their own obituaries commenting on Vonnegut's life as well as his books. Why does the death of an 84 year old author leaving a body of 14 novels, three collections of short stories, one compilation of fictitious interviews with dead celebrities, four works of non-fiction, five plays and one requiem lead to public reactions which differ so widely? How can the works of an author who persisted to write his last book on an old typewriter be so relevant for the technophiles of the blogosphere? These questions alone justify the continuation of an academic discourse on the works of Kurt Vonnegut which has been going on four almost forty years following the publication of Slaughterhouse-Five in 1969. Ever since that novel, critics rarely fail to mention the considerable influence of science fiction on Vonnegut's writing. Man's relationship to technology and the effects of technology on inter-human communication are central motifs in science fiction: hence, the web 2.0 generation's reaction to Vonnegut's death provides an extraordinary indication that the problems pondered upon in Vonnegut's science fiction are still relevant today. However, it has to be said that most critics' references to science fiction elements in Vonnegut's works remain limited to a surface level and evoke the impression that either the scholar is not well informed about the implications of the term 'science fiction' or fails to name his or her references. The effect of such an approach is that the works on the subject will either seem to be apologetic annexions of Vonnegut's novels by science fiction buffs and space opera fans or attempts to minimise the role of science fiction in the works of Kurt Vonnegut to mere parody. Neither impression is adequate for a thorough understanding of the role of science fiction in the works of Kurt Vonnegut. Therefore, in this paper a coordinate system discussing the implication of the term science fiction will be set up, in which Vonnegut's works can be located. In order to find a valid reference point, a fixed set of aspects will be [...]

The Vonnegut Effect

The Vonnegut Effect PDF Author: Jerome Klinkowitz
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1611171148
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
A defining analysis of the entire span of Kurt Vonnegut's fiction Kurt Vonnegut is one of the few American writers since Mark Twain to have won and sustained a great popular acceptance while boldly introducing new themes and forms on the literary cutting edge. This is the "Vonnegut effect" that Jerome Klinkowitz finds unique among postmodernist authors. In this innovative study of the author's fiction, Klinkowitz examines the forces in American life that have made Vonnegut's works possible. Vonnegut shared with readers a world that includes the expansive timeline from the Great Depression, during which his family lost their economic support, through the countercultural revolt of the 1960s, during which his fiction first gained prominence. Vonnegut also explored the growth in recent decades of America's sway in art, which his fiction celebrates, and geopolitics, which his novels question. A pioneer in Vonnegut studies, Jerome Klinkowitz offers The Vonnegut Effect as a thorough treatment of the author's fiction—a canon covering more than a half century and comprising twenty books. Considering both Vonnegut's methods and the cultural needs they have served, Klinkowitz explains how those works came to be written and concludes with an assessment of the author's place in American fiction.

Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel

Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel PDF Author: Robert T. Tally Jr.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441124853
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
The novels of Kurt Vonnegut depict a profoundly absurd and distinctly postmodern world. But in this critical study, Robert Tally argues that Vonnegut himself is actually a modernist, who is less interested in indulging in the free play of signifiers than in attempting to construct a model that could encompass the American experience at the end of the twentieth century. As a modernist wrestling with a postmodern condition, Vonnegut makes use of diverse and sometimes eccentric narrative techniques (such as metafiction, collage, and temporal slippages) to project a comprehensive vision of life in the United States. Vonnegut's novels thus become experiments in making sense of the radical transformations of self and society during that curious, unstable period called, perhaps ironically, the 'American Century.' An untimely figure, Vonnegut develops a postmodern iconography of American civilization while simultaneously acknowledging the impossibility of a truly comprehensive representation.

Yesterday's Tomorrows

Yesterday's Tomorrows PDF Author: Pere Gallardo
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443858773
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
2012 was a year of financial crises and ecological disasters, of endings and forebodings. The world did not end on December 21st as the Mayan calendar predicted, but became the stage for new beginnings, utopian communities, protest groups and solidarity movements. The essays in this book form an intertextual space for negotiating meaningful facts and fictions with an aim to understanding the present. Discussions focus on utopia and dystopia from literature and film, not only within the framework of science fiction but also critical theory, gender politics and social sciences. The authors of these essays are international academics whose interest lies in utopian studies and who attended the 13th International Conference of Utopian Studies, “The Shape of Things to Come”, held in Tarragona, Spain, in 2012.

Vonnegut in Fact

Vonnegut in Fact PDF Author: Jerome Klinkowitz
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 161117127X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Insights into Vonnegut's extensive nonfiction as a key to understanding innovation in his novels Vonnegut in Fact offers a thorough assessment of the artistry of Kurt Vonnegut, known not only as the best-selling author of Slaughterhouse-Five, Timequake, and a dozen other novels, but also as the most widely recognized public spokesperson among writers since Mark Twain. Jerome Klinkowitz traces the emergence of Vonnegut's nonfiction since the 1960s, when commentary and feature journalism replaced the rapidly dying short story market. Offering close readings and insightful criticism of Vonnegut's three major works of nonfiction, his many uncollected pieces, and his unique manner of public speaking, Klinkowitz explains how Vonnegut's personal visions developed into a style of great public responsibility that mirrored the growth of his fiction. Klinkowitz views his subject as a gentle manipulator of popular forms and an extremely personable figure; what might seem radically innovative and even iconoclastic in his fiction becomes comfortably avuncular and familiarly American when followed to its roots in his public spokesmanship.