Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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The 20th century saw many American authors leave their mark on the world of American literature. One such author to succeed in leaving such a mark was Kurt Vonnegut. Kurt Vonnegut is a hard writer to pin down with a career spanning over five decades. He was prolific throughout his illustrious career, writing books that attempted to dissect and understand the world he’d grown up in and his life.

As a writer, Vonnegut often approached his subject matter with satire and science fiction twists, making his work unique and sometimes challenging to decipher. Three general concepts guided much of his work: social equality, pacifism, and common decency. These were themes that worked for the audience of the time. He was a writer who made villains of sexuality, violence, war, and technology. Overshadowed by his most popular book, Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut's interesting life helps make sense of his exciting work throughout his career. This is the story of the misunderstood writer.

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Further Reading:
https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/vonnegutkurt.html

indyencyclopedia.org/vonnegut-hardware-company

britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Vonnegut

biblio.com/blog/2022/11/the-legacy-of-kurt-vonnegut

web.archive.org/web/20141108074722/http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/04/kurt-vonnegut-jr-dies-84

cornellsun.com/2007/04/16/the-sun-remembers-kurt-vonnegut-44

nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/kurt-vonnegut-slaughterhouse-five

https://blogs.cofc.edu/vonnegut/vonneguts-life/

loc.gov/item/n79062641/kurt-vonnegut

vonnegutlibrary.org/biography

britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Dresden

newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-jane-vonnegut-made-kurt-vonnegut-a-writer

nytimes.com/1952/08/17/books/vonnegut-player.html

britannica.com/topic/Player-Piano-novel-by-Vonnegut

nanettevonnegut.com/information

vonnegutlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/MSADA-AUGUST-Vonnegut-single-pages.pdf

nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html#:~:text=In%201958%2C%20Mr.,he%20in%20a%20train%20crash.

nytimes.com/1963/06/03/books/vonnegut-cradle.html

archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/books/052499vonnegut-writing.html

npr.org/2011/05/31/136823289/kurt-vonnegut-still-speaking-to-the-war-weary

nytimes.com/1970/11/18/archives/vonnegut-has-15-nuggets-of-talent-in-harvard-class-vonnegut.html

https://google.co.za/books/edition/Kurt_Vonnegut/K67OEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Kurt+Vonnegut:+A+Critical+Companion&printsec=frontcover

vonnegutlibrary.org/2018/07/kurt-on-marriage

goodreads.com/author/show/2778055.Kurt_Vonnegut_Jr_

wired.com/2007/04/rip-kurt-vonneg