An Audience of two: Kurt Vonnegut and the Textual Portrayals of his Greatest Influences
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Molly Robey
Expected Graduation Date
2019
Location
Room E106, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-13-2019 11:00 AM
End Date
4-13-2019 12:00 PM
Disciplines
Education
Abstract
Reluctant to begin a career as an author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. found the inspiration to do so from his ex-wife, Jane Cox, and sister, Alice Vonnegut. The influence of these women extended into the texts themselves; Jane and Alice being portrayed in a score of Vonnegut’s novels. While some critics have argued that only Alice appears in Vonnegut’s writing, others have said that only Jane surfaces as a character. I plan to discuss how both women are represented in Vonnegut’s texts, using knowledge of their lives to support my argument. In conjunction with exploring the women’s emergence in Vonnegut’s novels, I will analyze how he transforms them into literary elements different from their “real-life” character, through hyperbole and other aspects commonly found in science-fiction literature. Moreover, I plan to explore Vonnegut’s early literature, presumably inspired by Jane Cox, as well as the literature published following the death of his sister, in an attempt to see how these events are portrayed in his writing.
An Audience of two: Kurt Vonnegut and the Textual Portrayals of his Greatest Influences
Room E106, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Reluctant to begin a career as an author, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. found the inspiration to do so from his ex-wife, Jane Cox, and sister, Alice Vonnegut. The influence of these women extended into the texts themselves; Jane and Alice being portrayed in a score of Vonnegut’s novels. While some critics have argued that only Alice appears in Vonnegut’s writing, others have said that only Jane surfaces as a character. I plan to discuss how both women are represented in Vonnegut’s texts, using knowledge of their lives to support my argument. In conjunction with exploring the women’s emergence in Vonnegut’s novels, I will analyze how he transforms them into literary elements different from their “real-life” character, through hyperbole and other aspects commonly found in science-fiction literature. Moreover, I plan to explore Vonnegut’s early literature, presumably inspired by Jane Cox, as well as the literature published following the death of his sister, in an attempt to see how these events are portrayed in his writing.