1. Kurt Vonnegut & an introduction to Postmodernsim

2. Kurt Vonnegut American author with a career spanning over 50 years
Published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana
Educated at Cornell University, but dropped out in 1943 and enlisted in the army
Captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge
Interned in Dresden and survived the bombing by taking refuge in the meat locker of a slaughterhouse
Came home, married his high school sweetheart, had three children, and began a prolific career of writing and teaching
Morbidly comical commentator on the culture & society in which he lived

3. Slaughterhouse five Published in 1969
The result of Vonnegut’s 23 year struggle to capture his experience as an American POW in WWII
Combines science fiction, autobiography, historical fiction, and modern satire
Depicts the life of Billy Pilgrim, who, like Vonnegut, experiences the bombing of Dresden as the defining moment of his life

4. Postmodernism: not just literature
Can be applied to art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural & literary criticism (among others)
Largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific (or objective) society
HIGHLY dependent on personal reality

11. While you listen…
Illustrate what comes to mind. This should look like doodling, no need to be super concrete. Just go with what pops into your mind.
What strikes you about Vonnegut’s style?
What questions does the narrator leave you with?
How does personal experience seem to factor into this writing?

12. What is Postmodern Lit?

13. Postmodern Literature
A form of literature which is marked, both stylistically and ideologically, by a reliance on such literary conventions as:
Fragmentation
Paradox
Unreliable narrators
Unrealistic and impossible plots
Parody
Paranoia
Dark humor
Authorial self reference

14. Postmodern Authors
Reject outright meaning in their novels, stories and poems
Highlight and celebrate the possibility of multiple meanings, or a complete lack of meaning, within a single literary work
Reject many of the ideas that came with Modernism
Serve to: Dispute, Reverse, Mock, Reject
Instead of following the Modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, Postmodernist literature shuns, often playfully, the very possibility of meaning
Postmodern novels, stories, or poems are often presented as parody of the Modernist quest for meaning

15. Postmodern Philosophy
Reaction to stylistic and ideological limitations of Modernist literature and the radical changes the world underwent after the end of WWII
Modernist writers depicted the world as: fragmented, troubled, and on the edge of disaster…so they search for meaning
Postmodern writers, having already undergone countless disasters and being beyond redemption and understanding, along with the awareness of the possibility of utter disaster and apocalypse on the horizon, feel that locating precise meanings and reasons behind any event is impossible
Conceptualize the world as being impossible to strictly define and understand
Challenges binaries: good vs. evil, darkness vs. light, etc. There are no absolutes

16. Vonnegut’s worldview
‘Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’
 What does this quotation mean to you? If you could rewrite the last sentence, what would it be? What rule would you give to future generations?

17. Your white sheet of paper must include:
Postmodernism & You
Postmodernism requires you to know what you believe about the world in order to fully engage with texts.
Using the rewritten Vonnegut quote as your starting point, you are going to create a postmodern representation of your worldview.
Your white sheet of paper must include:
-a ½ page explanation of your worldview
-a visual representation of something in your write up
-an attempt to mimic the elements of postmodernism

18. Read Vonnegut’s “EPICAC” Come prepared tomorrow to discuss
Homework
Read Vonnegut’s “EPICAC”
Come prepared tomorrow to discuss
We miiiight have a reading quiz 