Vonnegut Redux: Slaughterhouse Five

Slaughterhouse Five is both a science fiction book and an essay on Vonnegut's view of war. There is the part about Billy Pilgrim becoming unstuck in time and the part about how Vonnegut wrote the book. He says, "When I got home from the Second World War twenty-three years ago, I thought it would be easy for me to write about the destruction of Dresden since all I would have to do would be to report what I had seen . . . But not many words about Dresden came from my mind then-not enough of them to make a book, anyway. And not many words come now, either . . . "(p. 2).

In reading and trying to write a review of this book, not many words come to me either. What really sticks in my mind is his preface: "The cattle are lowing, The Baby awakes. But the little Lord Jesus, No crying He makes."

I didn't discover Kurt Vonnegut's books till I was a college freshman. How I adored him. My favorite was Slaughterhouse Five. Later in my thirties living in an increasingly conservative and corporate world I devalued Vonnegut. I said to myself his works were sophomoric. That was why college sophomores liked him so much. It's like when every college sophomore gets the idea that maybe we aren't real, just a character in someone else's dream. If everyone thinks of it, it must be trite, must it not?

Reading Vonnegut's books again now I can appreciate how really good they are. I have never been able to read Slaughterhouse Five without crying and I do not easily cry. I can imagine why it took him so long to write it-thinking about holocaust, mass destruction is almost unbearable. The pain of looking is excruciating. Only when the mind has had time away from the event can it become comprehensible.

In the late teens and early twenties that whole abstract thinking thing kicks in good. Lots of people in this age group become concerned about helping humanity, discovering things, understanding philosophy. It's a phase of life and thus many people go through it together. The word idealism comes to mind. Later people focus on getting somewhere, making some money and they forget or disavow the "i" word. They think that stuff is just stupid. Later on somewhere through the veil of cynicism, idealism starts to look good again. Maybe we really are just a character in someone else's dream after all.

Go To Page: 1 2 3