English week four class notes
Kurt Vonnegut and Prologue.
- Slaughterhouse was published during the vietnam war and the heigtening protests against ito on
american soil and eleven uears before post trauamtic stress disroder became an official diagnosis (PTSD)
- Kurt vonnegut was enlisted in war. not mandatory conscription.
- During the writing of the book he does get informatioin about Dresden. Was it a strategic hit or an
attack on a cultural landmark. Initially history of the bombing of Dresden was not yet known.
- When he revisits he says Dresden looks like ohio as it has been rebuilt but not in its original splendour
Terms to know
1) Paratexts- when you get a text it is surrounded by othe tthings ie graphics dedications epigraphs etc,
eithers name a preface a title. These things surround the text and extend it and are called the paratexts.
Paratexts are subgenres not part of the story not on the inside or outside but exist seperately.
- Kurt vonnegut is playing with the use of paratext in using the first chapter as a chapter one which
should be considered a preface. Blurs the lines between inside and outside. Also includes title page. The
paratext has ceased to become a useful piece. Plays with boundaries between fiction and reality
2) Metafiction- beyond or about fiction- all of ch 1
- a reaction to literary realism. Self referential. ficiton that holds a mirror up to the world and presents
reader with a true vision
- fiction that calls attention to the fact of its own creation.
- Self concious explores status of fiction and fiction making
moments when a text comments on its status or the process of its own creation are called self reflexive
ie breaking the fourth wall or an intrusion
DISCUSSION Ch1
Looking at his self presentation or his theme
life after the war memories of dresden difficulties in writing the novel writing process
values and attitutdes towards his subject.
- Vonnuguts life after war: Shifted his career around, was chaotic, was a reporter and tried to study
anthropology.
- Chidlren's crusade: crusade were massacres
- vonnegut: chaotic, monotonous, passive, self depricating 9making fun of ones self)
Kurt Vonnegut and Prologue.
- Slaughterhouse was published during the vietnam war and the heigtening protests against ito on
american soil and eleven uears before post trauamtic stress disroder became an official diagnosis (PTSD)
- Kurt vonnegut was enlisted in war. not mandatory conscription.
- During the writing of the book he does get informatioin about Dresden. Was it a strategic hit or an
attack on a cultural landmark. Initially history of the bombing of Dresden was not yet known.
- When he revisits he says Dresden looks like ohio as it has been rebuilt but not in its original splendour
Terms to know
1) Paratexts- when you get a text it is surrounded by othe tthings ie graphics dedications epigraphs etc,
eithers name a preface a title. These things surround the text and extend it and are called the paratexts.
Paratexts are subgenres not part of the story not on the inside or outside but exist seperately.
- Kurt vonnegut is playing with the use of paratext in using the first chapter as a chapter one which
should be considered a preface. Blurs the lines between inside and outside. Also includes title page. The
paratext has ceased to become a useful piece. Plays with boundaries between fiction and reality
2) Metafiction- beyond or about fiction- all of ch 1
- a reaction to literary realism. Self referential. ficiton that holds a mirror up to the world and presents
reader with a true vision
- fiction that calls attention to the fact of its own creation.
- Self concious explores status of fiction and fiction making
moments when a text comments on its status or the process of its own creation are called self reflexive
ie breaking the fourth wall or an intrusion
DISCUSSION Ch1
Looking at his self presentation or his theme
life after the war memories of dresden difficulties in writing the novel writing process
values and attitutdes towards his subject.
- Vonnuguts life after war: Shifted his career around, was chaotic, was a reporter and tried to study
anthropology.
- Chidlren's crusade: crusade were massacres
- vonnegut: chaotic, monotonous, passive, self depricating 9making fun of ones self)
