Essay, Research Paper: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of,
Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., a successful architect, and Edith Sophia Vonnegut. He had two
older siblings, a brother Bernard, and a sister Alice. He attended Short ridge high
school. This is where he first realized his talent for writing. He was the editor of the
school newspaper. Kurt graduated in 1940, and after high school, attended Cornell
University and studied bio-chemistry, and was also a columnist and editor of the
Cornell daily sun. However, because of bad grades, Kurt found himself almost flunking
out of Cornell University. He saved himself from expulsion by joining the army in
1942. While in the army, several devastating experiences happened to Kurt. First in
1944, he received the news that his mother had committed suicide. A few months
later Kurt was captured by the German Army. He was forced to produce a vitamin
enriched malt for pregnant women. While doing this he happened to survive the
firebombing of Dresden. His book Slaughterhouse-five is partially about the bombing
of Dresden
After being rescued by the Soviets, Vonnegut returned home. He was working as
a Police Reporter for the Chicago News Bureau and studying anthropology at the
University of Chicago. He later moved to Schenectedy, New York. Here he worked
in Press Relations for the General Electric Plant. This experience that led to the
creation of his first novel Player Piano, . It was after the publication of this novel that
he moved to Rhode Island, while in addition to writing short stories, he taught High
School English and opened the first Saab dealership in the United States. After
realizing the shrinking of the Short Story market, he began concentrating entirely on
novels.
It was Vonnegut's novels that gained him critical acclaim in the late sixties and
seventies. His Science Fiction novels created a popularity and demand that nearly
overwhelmed him. He has continued to write novels, his last being Time Quake, in 1997.
Kurt Vonnegut has also written two autobiographical books, Palm Sunday, in 1981, and
Fates Worse than Death, in 1991, but true to his form, neither follows the path of a true
biography.


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