just another geek

Stories are Gadgets
Stories are gadgets, and they can be fixed so they really can run
(Vonnegut, Cheltenham Lecture, 1993)
Kurt Vonnegut is a mechanic who has his own unique way of tinkering with his stories . He has found a way to make them work well, and in doing so he has developed a radical narrative structure.
In [...]

Heroes, Anti-heroes and Non-heroes
Characterization in Vonnegut’s Novels
The protagonist is the central character in a novel, around whom its plot concentrates. There are different types of protagonist, as described above. There is the heroic protagonist, whose activities throughout a story portray him or her as great, as of superior quality to most people. Good examples of [...]

America through the eyes of Kurt Vonnegut
The America in which Kurt Vonnegut finds himself is a country of broken promises. His great grandfather, like millions of other people, emigrated to America to escape poverty, encouraged by the hope of a new way of life, epitomised by the American Dream. This is the dominant philosophy in [...]