Kurt Vonnegut Biography

Biography

Type: Writer

Born: November 11, 1922, Indianapolis, USA

Died: April 11, 2007 (aged 84), Manhattan, New

After the war, he attended University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked as a police reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York in public relations for General Electric. He attributed his unadorned writing style to his reporting work.

His experiences as an advance scout in the @Battle of the Bulge", and in particular his witnessing of the bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner of war, would inform much of his work. This event would also form the core of his most famous work, "Slaughterhouse-Five", the book which would make him a millionaire. This acerbic 200-page book is what most people mean when they describe a work as "Vonnegutian" in scope.

Vonnegut was a self-proclaimed humanist and socialist (influenced by the style of Indiana's own Eugene V. Debs) and a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The novelist is known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969), "Cat's Cradle" (1963), and "Breakfast of Champions" (1973).

Works:

Novels:

  • Player Piano (1952)
  • The Sirens of Titan (1959)
  • Mother Night (1961)
  • Cat's Cradle (1963)
  • God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)
  • Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
  • Breakfast of Champions (1973)
  • Slapstick (1976)
  • Jailbird (1979)
  • Deadeye Dick (1982)
  • Galápagos (1985)
  • Bluebeard (1987)
  • Hocus Pocus (1990)
  • Timequake (1997)

Fiction:

  • Canary in a Cathouse (1961)
  • Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
  • Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)
  • Between Time and Timbuktu (1972)
  • Bagombo Snuff Box (1997)
  • God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999)

Nonfiction

  • Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974)
  • Palm Sunday (1981)
  • Fates Worse Than Death (1991)
  • A Man Without a Country (2005)

Kurt Vonnegut Quotes

To be is to do - Socrates To do is to be - Sartre Do Be
To be is to do - Socrates

To do is to be - Sartre

Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra

The only difference between Hitler and Bush is that Hitler was elected.. Kurt Vonnegut
The only difference between Hitler and Bush is that Hitler was elected.

Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said
Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.

The bounties of space, of infinite outwardness, were three: empty heroics, low comedy, and pointless death..
The bounties of space, of infinite outwardness, were three: empty heroics, low comedy, and pointless death.

A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is
A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.

Love is where you find it. I think it is foolish to go around looking for
Love is where you find it. I think it is foolish to go around looking for it, and I think it can be poisonous. I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, 'Please - a little less love, and a little more common decency'.

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