Kurt Vonnegut: A Study of His Work and Writing Advice

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.” - Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a prolific American writer was born on this day (November 11) in 1922. He has a wide body of work, including novels, short stories, plays, and some nonfiction books. His literary career lasted over 50 years, and he is remembered for his sci-fi and satirical writing, as well as for how he advocated for free speech. In honor of what would have been his 101 birthday, today we will look at the life and writings of this famous author.

Early Life & War Years

Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis, Indiana into a very wealthy family of German descent. However, the fortune that the family inherited was spent during the years leading up to the Great Depression. The loss of their fortune impacted Vonnegut and his family in many ways. While his older siblings benefited from attending private school for their education, Vonnegut had to attend public school. Although he didn’t have the same education as his siblings, Vonnegut excelled in school. Vonnegut started writing in high school as the co-editor of the school newspaper, and from there he went on to study at Cornell University. Vonnegut pursued a degree in biochemistry to appease his father (who wanted him to study something he could make a good living out of), but he was uninterested in his studies. He began to write for Cornell’s newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, and later became an editor. However, when the United States entered World War II, Vonnegut enlisted in the Army, and left university.

His Army experience would end up being harrowing. In December 1944, Vonnegut was captured in Germany, and later survived the Allied bombing of Dresden by taking shelter in a meat locker that was three stories underground. He was able to return to the United States and worked for the Army a little while longer before being discharged, but not without remembering the horrors he had seen during the war. He recounted the dangers of technology and the atrocities it could commit, and would later reference this a great deal in his writing, where the theme of distrust of technology was rampant.

After returning to the U.S. and getting married, Vonnegut began to work as a journalist in Chicago, and then he was hired as a technical writer at General Electric. During this time he continued writing and then wrote the short story “Report on the Barnhouse Effect” which was published in February 1950. He earned $750 for it. After two successful short stories, he quit his job and moved his family to Cape Cod in order to pursue a career in writing.

Vonnegut’s Greatest Influencers

As a child, Vonnegut read works in the genres of science fiction, pulp fiction, action, fantasy, and adventure, along with classic novels as well. The authors that influenced Vonnegut included Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Jonathan Swift, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Bernard Shaw, Henry David Thoreau, H.G. Wells, and George Orwell (whom Vonnegut said was his favorite writer). Vonnegut has also said that H.L. Mencken inspired him in the journalism field. Vonnegut’s mother, Edith Vonnegut, was a writer - during his childhood she took short story classes in the evenings - and Vonnegut said she had an enormous influence on him and his writing.

Player Piano

Vonnegut’s first novel, titled Player Piano, was published in 1952. The novel explores the negative effects technology can have on individual people as well as society as a whole. The title was inspired by player pianos, the instruments that have a mechanism that allows the piano to play without requiring a human to operate it. Set in a dystopian world where machines replace the need for human workers, the novel follows the characters and the sense of purposelessness they have in a society that no longer has space for them to be useful. Vonnegut said that he was inspired to write Player Piano after working for General Electric, where he observed many tasks that had been done by people that were taken over and performed by machines. The main character, Paul Proteus, tries to rebel against the machines and stop the new world of automation from continuing to take over the world and destroying humanity. The world Paul finds himself in is dehumanizing, and he tries to regain his sense of humanity as well as bring the world back to a place where humans were needed and valued in all levels of society. Vonnegut continued to write about the dangers of technology, and dystopian writing and exploration of humans versus machines became common themes in Vonnegut’s later writing. Player Piano solidified Vonnegut’s standing as a science fiction writer. A year after its publication, it was nominated for the International Fantasy Award.

“Harrison Bergeron”

One of Vonnegut’s most famous short stories, “Harrison Bergeron” (1961) is another work of science fiction that takes place in a dystopian society. Set in 2081, this world has had amendments to the U.S. Constitution that say that all Americans must be equal, and no one can be more smart, beautiful, or able than another. In order to keep this equality, people have to wear “handicaps” to hide or otherwise destroy their above average characteristics. The characters in the story, Hazel and George, have a son named Harrison who is smart, athletic, and handsome. His parents do not even notice when their son is taken away from them, because George has noises ringing in his ears to destroy his intelligence, while Hazel has “average intelligence” and does not require a handicap. After he is captured, Harrison attempts to overthrow the government by breaking into a TV studio, and removing his “handicaps” and the ones on the other people in the TV studio. To prevent an uprising, Harrison is promptly killed by the government. Hazel and George are passive towards the government, and do not even realize their son was the one killed. Vonnegut uses humor throughout the story to show readers how ridiculous this world is, and short sentences to make it accessible to everyone. “Harrison Bergeron” is still one of Vonnegut’s most read stories. In 2019, the short story won the Prometheus Hall of Fame award from the Libertarian Futurist Society, showing that this story, though it was written more than 60 years ago, still holds its message and meaning to this day.

Cat’s Cradle

With similar themes to both Player Piano and “Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut’s fourth novel, published in 1963, follows a narrator named John who was going to write a book called The Day the World Ended, following the events of the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima. The narrator, in his quest to write this book, interviews different people and travels in order to meet them and find out what he can about the making of the bomb and what happened on that day. In the end, the narrator, along with many other characters, ends up on a deserted island and spends the last months of his life writing the book. Vonnegut writes about the issue of free will and technology, as well as the fears of nuclear war, which at the time he wrote Cat’s Cradle were prominent concerns in the general population.

Writing Style & Advice

Something that is unique about Vonnegut’s writing is how he is able to convey complex ideas in a manner that is understandable for most everyone. Vonnegut believed that this was due to his career as a journalist, where he had to ensure that his stories and news articles would be understood by everyone who read them. Vonnegut kept his sentences short, and used an almost conversational tone while writing, which helped to draw the reader into the story and, in a way, his writing almost includes them in his stories. His stories flow well and are easy to read. They also can be read aloud easily, which makes them ideal to be read to an audience. Though Vonnegut often discussed complicated themes (such as wealth, dystopian societies, technology, free will, purpose, as well as criticizing American society overall, and the cold war), he uses humor to humanize his works, and this additionally serves as a way to emphasize many of the problems occurring in his stories. When Vonnegut was starting his writing career, being dubbed a science fiction writer was often met with criticism, or not taken seriously. However, Vonnegut was able to help change people's views on science fiction novels with his work. As an author, he changed the way people looked at an entire genre of literature, which is no easy feat.

Vonnegut also had rules he followed for his writing. He said that writers should write about subjects they care deeply about. When people are passionate about what they are writing about, as your feelings about the subject will be what your readers remember. He also says to keep it simple and not overcomplicate things, and using simple language can be very effective. Making it so that your sentences do not overcomplicated the subject matter will help your reader in understanding the content. Vonnegut additionally says that it is important you sound like yourself; do not put pressure on yourself to sound like someone you are not.

Slaughterhouse-Five

The novel that propelled Vonnegut to fame, Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade was published in 1969 and is a semi-autobiographical novel, in which Vonnegut dives into his anti-war beliefs. The book has been adapted many times, including into a movie, various theatrical productions, and in September 2020 it was adapted into a graphic novel. Similar to Vonnegut’s experience, the main character, Billy Pilgrim, is also captured in Dresden, Germany during WWII. The story is told through an unreliable narrator, famously opening with “All of this happened, more or less” and Billy’s life is told through flashbacks. Billy is able to time travel, so the events do not happen in a linear order, and Vonnegut’s view on war is seen in Billy’s experiences and reaction to the events in the novel. The postmodern novel uses the classic Vonnegut humor and irony throughout the text, and also utilizes repetition. The book deals with themes of death, philosophy (particularly religious philosophy), mental illness, and postmodernism. Something that is particularly interesting is that the symptoms Billy Pilgrim experiences in the novel would now be known as post-traumatic stress disorder, which was not a term used when Slaughterhouse-Five was published. Though decades old, the novel is still very popular, and it’s no wonder that it was on the New York Times Bestseller list for sixteen weeks. Slaughterhouse-Five has been at the forefront of attempts at censorship, due to the subjects in the novel. It has been removed from libraries, taken out of curriculums, and has been banned from classes. The book was on the “Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999.” More recently, in 2011, it was banned at a Missouri high school. The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library then offered 150 free copies to students.

Vonnegut’s Influence

As one of the most influential novelists of the 20th century, Vonnegut has influenced and continues to influence writers. Many authors have cited Vonnegut as being an inspiration, such as Rick Moody, Jonathan Safran Foer, Ken Kalfus, Jess Walter, Haruki Murakami, and others. He also spent time teaching at both Harvard University and the City College of New York. His writing continues to be impactful and relevant, especially as we are living in a time of great technological advancement.

Vonnegut passed away on April 11, 2007, at the age of 84. He is greatly missed by the literary community. His writing motivated people to think about the complexities of our modern world, and his work still inspires many today. The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library and Museum in Indianapolis has an art gallery and museum. Visitors can attend events and there are many educational resources in addition to being a library. If any Kurt Vonnegut fans live in the area, the library is highly praised and enjoyed by people of all ages. In honor of Vonnegut’s birthday, comment below about your favorite Kurt Vonnegut work!