This writer created a kind of literary cocktail of black humor, science fiction and satire. He is ranked among the classics of the 20th century, although the way he wrote and what he wrote about is, rather, reading for an amateur. He was banned in the United States, his books were burned, but he continued to speak the truth. Sharp, uncompromising in the pages of his works - what was he like in life?
early years
The famous American writer was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis (Indiana). Kurt's paternal great-grandfather emigrated to the United States from Germany. Kurt Vonnegut Sr. became a hereditary architect and had a very lucrative business in Indianapolis. Plus, he married the daughter of a local millionaire, Edith Lieber. So at the time of the birth of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., his parents were quite wealthy people.
Kurt became the third child in the Vonnegut family. He had an older brother and sister - Bernard and Alice. Trouble struck this happy family at the height of the Great Depression. First came the end of the family capital, when the father stopped receiving orders, was out of work and the Vonneguts simply had to spend all their savings.
Due to the impending poverty, Edith's health was shaken. She began to suffer from a mental disorder. At first, Kurt witnessed her frequent seizures, and then completely survived the main tragedy of his life: his mother committed suicide. This pain runs like a red thread in many of his works.
War, captivity, bombing of Dresden
One of the curious facts of the biography of the writer was his service in the US Army. When the country entered World War II, Vonnegut volunteered for the front. As a private in the 423rd Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division, Kurt was captured on December 19, 1944. Ironically, a guy with German roots ended up in a German labor camp. He was held in Dresden, where in February 1945 there was a major bombing raid.
Then more than 250 thousand prisoners died, and perhaps a miracle helped the future world famous writer escape: at the time of the bombing, he and some other prisoners were driven into the non-working basement of slaughterhouse number five. This life-saving place will in the future give its name to the book that brought Vonnegut the most popularity. The release of Kurt Vonnegut from captivity was carried out by the forces of the Red Army in May 1945.
It's funny that Kurt, even in captivity, did not disdain black humor and provocative satire. Initially, he was appointed headman among the prisoners, because he spoke a little German. Once he decided to "have fun": in a conversation with one of the camp guards, he painted in paints what the Russians would do to the Germans when they came here. For such jokes, Vonnegut was severely beaten and demoted from his post as headman.
Writing activity and the best works of the author
Kurt Vonnegut built all his work on the vivid and tragic experiences of his youth. The Great Depression and the death of the mother, the war and the labor camp, the need to do not what one wants, but what the father insists on. Vonnegut had to study to be a chemist, but, as one of his university professors rightly remarked, "Vonnegut's aversion to chemistry was a boon to American literature."
During his long writing career, Kurt Vonnegut wrote 14 novels and published several collections of short stories. The TOP-10 of the writer's works should include:
1) "Slaughterhouse number five, or the Children's Crusade" (1969)
2) "Balagan, or the End of Loneliness" (1976)
3) "Utopia 14" (1952)
4) "Sirens of Titan" (1959)
5) "Mother Darkness" (1961)
6) "Cat's Cradle" (1963)
7) "Breakfast for Champions, or Goodbye Black Monday" (1973)
8) "Canary in the Mine" (1961)
9) Welcome to the Monkey House (1968)
10) "Snuffbox from Bagombo" (1999)
Personal life
Kurt Vonnegut has been married twice. The first wife of the writer was Jane Mary Cox. In this marriage, Vonnegut had a son and two daughters. In addition, following the death of Kurt's sister and the tragic death of her husband in a one-year accident, Kurt and Jane adopted Vonnegut's three orphaned nephews. The writer's second marriage was with the photographer Jill Clements. The couple adopted a girl who became Vonnegut's seventh child.
According to numerous confessions of Kurt Vonnegut himself, throughout his life he suffered from severe depression. Repeatedly the thought of suicide occurred to him, but the only thing that kept him from him was the realization that by such an act he would set an extremely negative example for his children.
