Kurt Vonnegut: A Postmodern Science Fiction Writer and His Philosophy, Appunti di Cultura Anglo-Americana

Scarica Kurt Vonnegut: A Postmodern Science Fiction Writer and His Philosophy e più Appunti in PDF di Cultura Anglo-Americana solo su Docsity! CAT'S CRADLE – KURT VONNEGUT Vonnegut is an high-intellectual, unpopular writer very close to popular culture (one of his novel become a graphic novel) and this is common in post- modernism, as a highly fragmented movement, that combines pieces from the two world, the highest and the lowest. Another aspect of this is a mixing up of word and images (may happen in fiction): Vonnegut usually includes in his novel is own drawings. Vonnegut is defined as a science fiction writer even though he does not always agree with this definition because he is using science in a very specific way. He turns the genre of science fiction in a mix of different influences even if his first novel (Player Piano) in clearly science fiction (story which are openly unreal). Vonnegut write a kind of philosophical science-fiction, his most famous novel (Slaughterhouse 5) is against war and it's focused on a tragic event of history and the protagonist (a kind of Forest Gump, unable to do anything) has the particular characteristic to travel in the time but he can't control these journeys. The character can organize the history in a crazy way, the time sequence is totally destroyed cause the narrator is the protagonist. In this novel all topics are real (the US use of weapons, the army...) developed trough the mechanism of science-fiction. Also in the case of Cat's Cradle the base is the utopian model and the only science-fiction device is the substance (ice-nine) which is the centre of the story but basically is the story of a journey. What is interested in Vonnegut is how different genre collides. He was trained as a scientist, his favourite field is chemistry but he never work as a scientist. His double education (as a scientist and as a reader) is reflected in his novel because there is a scientific and rational approach to the main topics but he also concluded that science is totally unable to solve human being problems because of the people who are using science (cause they are human beings and they tend to use science in the wrong way). Vonnegut take the example of the atomic bomb. He combined ration though with the issue that science can't solve human problems, human are unable to use science in a productive manner. Luddism: the act of destroying machines or any kind of machinery. It's a philosophy according to which machines, technology and technique are dangerous to human beings (machines have to be destroyed). Vonnegut combine a lot of science with the tendency of consider the negative aspects of machines (machines produce a sociological change in society). What make Vonnegut different from the others author who write about science- fiction he is less snobbish in a way, he thinks that through science-fiction genre he could reach a bigger audience even if is a difficult genre because it requires a right language to satisfy the reader. A writer should take in account the kind of mythology have to use. He is convinced that technology can provide what nature provides before and in this way technological myths replaces traditional myth. Irony is a really marking feature of Vonnegut's narrative, irony is the strength of his writing and is grounded in a criticism of human nature (human beings had make many good discoveries, also in a scientific field, but they are not able to use it in a right way). There is irony in the possibility for human beings to find a salvation (part of Vonnegut and part of American literature in general). In the first line of the novel the protagonist, John, says call me Jonah and this immediately link to Moby Dick and at the same time to the Bible (another big book, so important for the human beings in general). The protagonist is a journalist and a writer, in a way Vonnegut represent himself in this character, and he is a typical American citizen (not particularly smart or famous but he want to became famous and fail) not a superhero. Another very important aspect of the book is the way in which was build. Vonnegut creates a religion in which God has a totally different attitude from the traditional one: God does not love human beings and he does not love the island, he consider them as toys, part of a game. Like a child when God become bored with these toys would like to see them disappearing and so Vonnegut images that the discovered of the ice-nine, that kills human beings, is something God is happy about. In the letter at the end of the novel Bokonon says that God is trying to kill all human beings because he's fed up with them and human beings can't do anything, only accept. This is highly ironical, is like saying that all religious are ultimately meaningless,who keeps meaning to religion is our faith, our ability to believe something that is not supported by facts, totally irrational. Vonnegut try to say that people who believes in God are giving meaning to our life by something that is not true. Politics and religious are connected each other in San Lorenzo (as in England and USA), but here is rather particular: usually the connection is symbolic but also the result of something very pragmatic and practical. When the 2 founders of the island get to San Lorenzo decided to split and one will take care of the religion and the other of the law they also decided, quite rationally, to be in conflict because is more functional. What is interesting in all Vonnegut's book is the ability of the author to show the mechanism of contemporary life, in particular of politics and economy. Also the government, the law in San Lorenzo in showed as totally devoid of meaning anticipating what is going to happen later on. Ice-nine is fantasy, result of imagination and it's a weapon. It combines different influences literal, historical and social. Of course in another white wale which is the protagonist of Moby Dick (that in American literature represent the other, the alien, something which is totally different, there is only one white wale, and it must be killed, is the symbol of the ultimate ambition). Ice-nine is a substance which is able to transform everything in ice and also the inventor in going to be killed at the end by it. It's exactly the same kind of journey, the same kind of quest, it cannot be avoided but it's totally useless. It can be linked to the drop of the atomic bomb on Japan, only the human beings are responsible of the death of million of people, it's dangerous and useless. Through ice-nine the author indicate the possible danger of science which is something that Vonnegut mentions very often. We shouldn't rely total on science because it depends on how human beings use it. We should remember that science is a tool not an entity itself (bigger mistake), the characters are totally focused on science with purpose in itself. Finally another recurring issue in Vonnegut is the reflection on the inability of the American government to take care of his citizens (very strong feeling in the period between 1960 and 1980). The President and the government say to take care of people but not really do in reality, they are totally run by economic interests and doing things secretly. THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS – U.K.LEGUIN This is a totally different kind of novel and totally different kind of novelist but belong to the same historical period. Here ice-nine, same kind of metaphor, can entertain way. Another important aspect are the stylistic devices of the novel: the story is narrated from different points of view and is alternating with foundational myth of this lands. Le Guin, as a daughter of an anthropology and having and anthropological education, give some importance to the anthropological aspects and made science-fiction a more psychological genre (focussing on people's differences). PKDICK – A SCANNER DARKLY (1977) DO ANDROIDS DREAMS OF ELETRIC SHEEP (1968) PKD is the godfather of new science-fiction writers, the reference. He has a very difficult life and he can be seen ad a dilapidated genius always trying to earn money writing a lot of novel to maintains his drug addiction. He's not a scientist but he uses technology to imagine a new kind of society, as a tool to get something else. He exploit science-fiction, he often uses the notion of parallel world and parallel future (on which he based the novel “The man in the high castle”, in which we can found some elements of meta-narrative, PKD writes about a writer who imagine the world if the Nazi’s lost the war). The experience of drug was very important for him, the idea of an altered perceptions as a tool to create new reality (loose the contact with reality is the main argument of “A Scanner Darkly”). PKD made deep reflection about the issue of reality, about what is real, how make a distinction between reality and imagination. CYBERPUNK -> sub-genre of science-fiction based on the distinction between human beings from androids, it develops after the 90s. Mechanical beings tend to be more intelligent and stronger than human beings and they cannot die. Why should this kind of perfect beings have to serve human beings? How can accept to be exploited by human beings if they are stronger and more brilliant? All the story of “Do android dream of electric sheep” develop around the issue of how can distinguish an android from a human being. In this novel androids want to be considered as human beings, they want the same possibilities. “A scanner darkly” has a plot similar to crime fiction because we found an investigation and a story very similar to a crime story which in film adaptation (Blade Runner) becomes the most important aspect. What loose importance in the film is the religious issue: the author write about a totally imaginary religious (Mercerism) used for political purposes and which supports and encourages the political stability of the society. Instead Bokononism in San Lorenzo was created to be in conflict with the political side of the power (it was functional that religious was forbidden, making it more popular), Mercerism is meant to support politics. In “Do android dreams of electric sheep”, and is it typically in post-modernism each section of the text is introduced by a paratex, he introduces his novels with an epigraph and it's important because he wants to demonstrate his education in high literature (supposing that also his text has to be consider high literature). The citation of the turtle indicates that mechanical animals are basic into the story. So the combination of the two epigraph say: this text is supposed to be literature but it also deals with mechanics. The issue of the distinction between human and android is presented even in the opening dialogue between the protagonist and his wife in which he confess to had never killed a man, just androids (even if they have similar emotions, memories and a past the man can kill them without suffering).