Abstract
World War II is a central component in many of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels; he uses the topic of war to advocate altruism. As stated in Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Vonnegut understands that it is pointless to write an antiwar book because wars are “as easy to stop as glaciers,” yet, arguably, many of his novels still impart an antiwar message.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Works Cited
Baumbach, Jonathan. The Landscape of Nightmare. New York: New York UP, 1965.
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. Trans. Justin O’Brien. 1942. New York: Vintage, 1991.
Giannone, Richard. Vonnegut: A Prefact to His Novels. New York: Kennikat, 1977.
Hanna, Thomas L. “Albert Camus and the Christian Faith.” Camus: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Germaine Bree Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1962. 48–58.
Klinkowitz, Jerome, and Donald L. Lawler, eds. Vonnegut in America: An Introduction to the Life and Work of Kurt Vonnegut. New York: Delacorte, 1977.
Laing, R. D. The Politics of Experience. New York: Pantheon, 1967.
Mayo, Clark. Kurt Vonnegut: The Gospel from Outer Space: (Or, Yes We Have No Nirvanas). San Bernardino: Borgo, 1977.
Merrill, Robert, and Peter A. Scholl. “Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five: The Requirement of Chaos.” Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut. Ed. Robert Merrill. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990. 145–51.
Schultz, Max F. Black Humor Fiction of the Sixties: A Pluralistic Definition of Man and His World. Athens: Ohio UP, 1974.
Simmons, David. The Anti-Hero in the American Novel: From Joseph Heller to Kurt Vonnegut. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Bluebeard. New York: Delta, 1987.
—. Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut. Ed. William Rodney Allen. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1988.
—. God Bless You, Mr.Rosewater. New York: Delta, 1965.
—. Mother Night. New York: Delta, 1961.
—. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York: Delta, 1969.
Wagner-Martin, Linda, ed. The Mid-Century American Novel: 1935–1965. New York: Twayne, 1997.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2009 David Simmons
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McCoppin, R. (2009). “God Damn It, You’ve Got to Be Kind”: War and Altruism in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut. In: Simmons, D. (eds) New Critical Essays on Kurt Vonnegut. American Literature Readings in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100817_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230100817_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37980-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-10081-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)