Transcript Mother Night - Mr. Nurre's English Courses

Mother Night
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut: Biography
 Born in Indianapolis, IN in 1922
 Son of an architect and well-educated German-American
parents
 After high school, attended Cornell University and Carnegie
Mellon University between 1940-1944.
 Enlisted in the United States Army, began foreign service in
1944.
 Captured during the Battle of the Bulge and spent the
remainder of the war as a POW in Germany.
 While a POW, witnessed the American firebombing of
Dresden and suffered harsh treatment from German soldiers
and civilians
 Was equally disturbed by American actions/tactics and the
German response (to further burn the corpses of their own
civilians) in Dresden
 Liberated in May 1945; returned to the US and received
military honors
 Much of his literature is concerned with war, large scale violence, and major
ethical quandaries.
Kurt Vonnegut: Biography
 After World War II, began PhD studies in Anthropology at the
University of Chicago, but was disengaged and disinterested.
 Given a degree in 1971, when the University accepted his novel
Cat’s Cradle as his MA thesis.
 Worked as a newspaper wire reporter, among other jobs,
before committing to writing full time in early 1950s,
publishing his first novel (The Player Piano) in 1952.
 Went on to publish 21 major novels and collections.
 While writing full-time, he also taught English Literature and
Creative Writing courses at Harvard and the University of
Iowa (Writer’s Workshop) intermittently.
 After attempting suicide in 1984, he spent the remaining
decades of his life writing mostly essays, columns, and short
fiction.
 He ultimately died in April 2007.
Kurt Vonnegut: Biography
 Major Works:
 Mother Night (1961): A
 Complicated, satirical examination of morality, ethics, and cultural
ideals in a World War II spy novel.
 Cat’s Cradle (1963): A+
 A scientist accidentally destroys the world by turning all water into ice; it
warns of the dangers of destructive technology while pitting rationalism
and science versus the role of mysticism
 Slaughterhouse-Five (1969): A+
 His most famous work, lyrically blends his experiences in Dresden with
radical science fiction elements. Championed as a prime example of
Postmodern American writing.
 Breakfast of Champions (1973): C
 A car-dealer loses his mind after reading an novel, and he eventually
confronts the author. The story deals with the complicated role of
author and audience and the impact art, both good and bad forms, can
have on people.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Rules for Writing
1.
Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will
not feel the time was wasted.
Translation: Entertain your reader. Make them want to read more. Be
funny or dramatic or sorrowful—just be something that is engaging
on some level.
2.
Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
Translation: Create characters who are real and relatable. Allow the
reader the opportunity to see his/herself (flaws included) in at least
one character.
3.
Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass
of water.
Translation: People have motivations; characters should, too. Some
motivations are grand, some banal, but desire is common to the
human condition.
4.
Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or
advance the action.
Translation: Do not waste time or space on unnecessary material.
Trust your readers to be smart enough to find themes and
significance.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Rules for Writing
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
Translation: You can fill in background as the story unfolds.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading
characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the
reader may see what they are made of.
Translation: Character and characters are defined by reactions to
circumstance. Test characters the way the world tests character.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make
love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
Translation: Satisfy your own voice. Convince yourself and others will
follow. Trying too hard to satisfy others will leave no one satisfied,
especially yourself.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as
possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such
complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that
they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the
last few pages.
Translation: Give your reader autonomy and a stake in the story.
Vonnegut’s Writing
 Postmodernism: (post 1945-present?)
 Takes narrative style and themes of modernism even further
 Voice:
 Explores incredibly complex themes in clear, frank, funny, and accessible manner.
 Acerbic, sarcastic, and occasionally aggressive in tone.
 Always funny and clever with his language, sometimes playful but never flippant,
haphazard or purposeless.
 Focus on the Big Picture.
 “Although Vonnegut's acerbic wit and artistic nonconformity was decried by those
preferring more genteel literature and greater political correctness, he was widely
acknowledged by fans for his unique voice and for his commitment to abandoning
social convention in favor of common human decency.”
 Style:
 1st Person Narration: allows his narrator to relate to and shape his reader’s
perspective; untrustworthy narrator
 Fantastical/Far-fetched Scenarios: creates elaborate, extreme situations and
contexts to reflect and consider more immediate, real, profound concerns
 Black/Gallows Humor: finding comedic elements in darkest of times or situations
 Sentence Structure: Languid, poetic, and beautiful, but with a colloquial
vocabulary and common man clarity.
Mother Night
 Key information:
 The novel is narrated by Howard Campbell Jr., who served as the
head writer and performer of English Language Nazi
propaganda.
 He is a fictional character—no evidence of such a person exists.
 Vonnegut’s plot will play with the central questions, “Is he or is he not a
spy? Can we trust the narrator? What is real?”
 Vonnegut’s themes will play with the central questions, “What does it
mean to be American, German, a Nazi, etc.?”
 Introduction and Editor’s Note
 Written as part of the fiction narrative.
 Consider this part of the novel.
 Using these traditionally “non-fiction” parts of a book as fiction
would be an example of Vonnegut’s postmodernism, as it plays
with form and audience expectation.
Mother Night: Themes
 Ethics and Morality: Personal and Cultural/Social
 Truth/Fiction
 Honesty/Dishonesty
 Performance/Performativity (+/-)
 Signifier/Signified
 Alienation/Isolation/Detachment
 Ideology/Interpellation
 Nationalism and Globalization
 Cultural Ideals v. Cultural Realities
 Gender: Masculine and Feminine
 Politics: National, Personal, Universal
 Art and Artist: Creator and Creation…