Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Trout, Kilgore--(Fictitious character); Authorship in literature; Trout, Kilgore (Fictitious character); Breakfast of champions (Vonnegut, Kurt); God bless you, Mr Rosewater (Vonnegut, Kurt); Slaughterhouse-five (Vonnegut, Kurt); Timequake (Vonnegut, Kurt); Vonnegut, Kurt--God bless you, Mr Rosewater; Vonnegut, Kurt--Slaughterhouse-five; Vonnegut, Kurt--Breakfast of champions; Vonnegut, Kurt--Timequake; Academic theses;
Abstract
The works of Kurt Vonnegut demonstrate the author's lifelong interest in the purpose of literature and the role of the author in a postmodern society. Through the use of his most frequently recurring character, the science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut questions the ways in which an author's works influence readers and ponders the relationship between society and art. These themes are explored in detail in the four novels which feature Kilgore Trout most prominently: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions and Timequake. A study of these novels reveals a progressive personification of the Trout figure, as he follows a path of realization and redemption that mirrors the one Vonnegut himself experienced as a writer and a humanist. These novels represent the key moments in Trout's journey, as he evolves from a hack science-fiction writer into a heroic savior. Trout's relationship with Vonnegut is one that reflects Vonnegut's struggles with his status as an author, as he was simultaneously praised and criticized throughout his career. An analysis of the four Troutean novels demonstrates the various roles played by Trout: deus ex machina, prophet, mouthpiece, proxy, savior and hero. In God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and Slaughterhouse-Five Trout acts as a catalyst that provokes action in others through his writing, providing emotionally damaged characters such as Eliot Rosewater and Billy Pilgrim with a means of dealing with trauma. Halfway through his writing career Vonnegut decided to free Trout, yet even after "liberating" Trout in Breakfast of Champions Vonnegut chose to resurrect Trout in his final novel Timequake. Time quake brings together all of the humanistic themes Vonnegut presented throughout his career and redeems Trout as an author. The parallel journeys of Vonnegut and Trout as they struggled to define themselves as writers and find a purpose for their works thus illuminate aspects of the humanistic agenda Vonnegut promoted and advanced in his literature.
Year of Submission
2010
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Languages and Literatures
First Advisor
Jim O'Loughlin
Second Advisor
Jerome Klinkowitz
Third Advisor
Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure
Date Original
2010
Object Description
1 PDF file (63 leaves)
Copyright
©2010 Danielle M. Benesh
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Benesh, Danielle M., "Kurt Vonnegut, Authorship and the Purpose of Literature: A Study of Kilgore Trout" (2010). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2059.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2059
Comments
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