Kurt Vonnegut was a German-American writer who is best known for his science fiction novels and satirical views. He is considered one of the most influential authors of the 20th century in America. During his life he published more than a dozen fictional novels, a few autobiographies and short stories.
He is most popular for his 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty to Dance with Death. The novel was partly fictional and partly an autobiography, chronicling his POW experience; the film adaptation of the novel was released in 1972. The novel met with both good reviews and commercial success as it became a New York bestseller.
Who was Kurt Vonnegut?
Kurt Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922 to Kurt Vonnegut Sr. and Edith Vonnegut. Her parents were of German descent, but they were both born in the United States where they met, married and gave birth to their own children. Kurt is the youngest child in his family, his older brother being his brother Bernard and his sister Alice.
His father was an architect and a scion of a very influential family. Kurt’s patriarchal grandfather founded the Vonnegut Hardware company. Based in Indiana, it primarily deals in the marketing of DIY materials such as fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, etc As an architect, Kurt Sr was responsible for the design of the Bell Telephone Company buildings in Indiana, the Athenaeum and the Fletcher Trust Building, to name a few.
Vonnegut’s maternal line was also well to do as they were considered one of the wealthiest families in Indianapolis. His family achieved such wealth through ownership of breweries. However, soon all the riches the two families knew are gone. They were hit by the Great Depression of 1929 and turned the tables. This forced Kurt Vonnegut to be sent to a public school – Public School No. 43, which is now known as James Whitcomb Riley School. According to various sources, this did not bother him but did concern his parents, with his father withdrawing as his mother became depressed and abusive.
For his high school education, Kurta attended Shortridge High School, where he began writing for the school newspaper. After graduating from high school in 1940, he enrolled at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He studied biochemistry for three years in this institution and then retired to the army. In the army, he was part of the United States Air Force and participated in the Battle of Bulge in 1944.
On December 22, 1944, he and 50 other soldiers were captured as prisoners of war in Germany. As a prisoner he survived the bombardment of Dresden. Its survival was due to the shelter of an underground slaughterhouse.
After the war, he returned to the United States and started a family with his high school sweetheart, Jane Marie Cox. With her he had three children. He also worked as a journalist while pursuing a master’s degree in anthropology at the University of Chicago. After getting his master’s degree, he changed careers and became a public relations writer in New York. In his words, he was tired of the deception of the craft and decided to go into fiction in 1950.
What Was Kurt Vonnegut Known For?
Kurt Vonnegut is best known as an author. In describing his works, it is safe to say that he writes more fiction; mostly science fiction with a mix of absurdity and black humor. He started writing novels in the early 1950s starting with short stories. His short stories were mostly about the future and technology, which had called him “critical science fiction.”
His first novel was published in 1952 and was called Playing the Piano. It was also a science fiction novel and its plot revolved around an automated, automated world that a scientist had unsuccessfully resisted. His second novel The Mermaids of Titan (1959) was also a fiction novel telling a scenario where the human race was an accident on an alien planet.
He gave up science fiction for a while when he published the novel Mother Night published in 1961. The novel explores the life of a playwright who was also a spy during the Nazi regime in Germany. He published several other novels in the following years and is best known for the New York Times bestseller, Slaughterhouse-five or the Children’s Crusade. This novel fired on Kurt Vonnegut to continue to gain acclaim and recognition.
In total, Vonnegut has written and published 14 novels, 5 non-fiction, a few plays and short stories. Posthumously, some of his unpublished works were published by his son and other publishers. They include Birdwatch (2009), While Mortals Sleep (2011), We Are What We Say We Are (2012) among others. He died on April 11, 2007, from a head injury he had suffered several days earlier, following a fall at his home.
Here are 5 highlights about the author
1. Kurt Vonnegut has been married twice
The iconic writer and writer was married twice; first to Jane Marie Cox, whom he knew from a young age through high school. They married in 1945 after he returned from World War II and had three children together. The couple divorced in 1971 and eight years later married Jill Krementz. He was still married to her at the time of her death in 2007.
2. He adopted his sister’s children
Vonnegut had three adopted children. In addition to his biological children from his first wife, he adopted his late sister’s three children after her death from cancer and the children also lost their father in a train accident which left them orphaned.
3. Recognition and honors
Due to his fecundity and prowess with the pen, he was well recognized in his life. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Additionally, he was honored by the institution with the dedication of a library to his memory in 2010 in Indianapolis; it’s called the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. This library not only promoted his work, but also his culture and education.
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4. He was suicidal at one point
It will surprise you to know that this prolific and largely successful author was suicidal. At some point in his life he fell into depression, and although the cause of this remains unknown, he attempted suicide in 1984, but failed. He never tried again but later died of a concussion.
5. Vonnegut’s mother committed suicide
In another sad event, Kurt’s mother committed suicide on Mother’s Day. She took an overdose of sleeping pills and was found dead at her husband’s house. His mother’s decision to take her own life was due to the family’s loss of fortune following the Great Depression – which robbed both her husband’s fortune and that of her own family. When she was unable to regain her status after several attempts, she resorted to alcohol and prescription drugs.