Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel - (Continuum Literary Studies) by Robert T Tally Jr

Book Synopsis

The novels of Kurt Vonnegut depict a profoundly absurd and distinctly postmodern world. But in this critical study, Robert Tally argues that Vonnegut himself is actually a modernist, who is less interested in indulging in the free play of signifiers than in attempting to construct a model that could encompass the American experience at the end of the twentieth century. As a modernist wrestling with a postmodern condition, Vonnegut makes use of diverse and sometimes eccentric narrative techniques (such as metafiction, collage, and temporal slippages) to project a comprehensive vision of life in the United States. Vonnegut's novels thus become experiments in making sense of the radical transformations of self and society during that curious, unstable period called, perhaps ironically, the 'American Century.' An untimely figure, Vonnegut develops a postmodern iconography of American civilization while simultaneously acknowledging the impossibility of a truly comprehensive representation.

Review Quotes

"Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel is an exciting re-evaluation of this much overlooked author's work. Tally deftly rereads Vonnegut's novels, situating them in an American tradition of fiction that seeks to make sense of the larger American experience. The book skilfully interweaves a germane selection of literary and critical theory to convincingly argue that Vonnegut should be reassessed as a substantial Modernist rather than Postmodernist writer." --David Simmons, Lecturer in American Literature, Film and Television Studies, Northampton University, UK

"Robert Tally's book makes a serious scholarly contribution not only to Vonnegut studies, but to the field of contemporary American literature in general. Arguing persuasively that Vonnegut is a "reluctant postmodernist," a "misanthropic humanist" with modernist longings, Tally situates his readings of Vonnegut's fourteen novels amid recent critical debates about American literature, about postmodernism, and about what it means to be a human being. The book is that rarest of academic works, at once critically well-informed and eminently readable." --Susan Farrell, Professor of English, College of Charleston, USA

"A Melville as well as a Vonegut scholar, Tally (Texas State Univ.) grapples with Vonegut's novels as attempts, albeit failed ones, at writing the 'great American novel.' In Tally's view, this project constitutes partly an attempt to 'grasp the essence of American life at its moment.' Recommended. Upper division undergraduates and above. --L. A. Brewer, Fortis College" --CHOICE Reviews

"Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel does much to reposition Vonnegut as a major American writer. By approaching Vonnegut's oeuvre as an integrated postmodern iconography, a strategic project bridging the gap between modernism and postmodernism, Tally reveals Vonnegut to be a serious, deeply imaginative writer whose fictions intervene in major intellectual debates-political and theoretical-that continue to impact contemporary social developments." --Boundary 2: An International Journal of Literature and Culture

"Robert Tally In Kurt Vonnegut and The American Novel: A Postmodern Iconography, argues that Vonnegut's work is "untimely" in that he writes as a modernist stuck "in a postmodern condition." Tally then uses this distinction to drive a wide-ranging discussion of postmodernism and other theories relevant to reading Vonnegut claiming that Vonnegut employs the novel form to construct a postmodern iconography. The result is a very readable, highly original, clearly focused monograph." --Donald E. Morse, University of Debrecen, author of The Novels of Kurt Vonnegut: Imagine Being an American

"Kurt Vonnegut and the American Novel offers a comprehensive and considered take on Vonnegut's novels in the light of influential philosophers and cultural theorists. Where this may be of particular interest to Vonnegut fans and American literature scholars, the application of the particular theoretical positions are generalizable and useful to a far wider readership. The book succeeds in capturing the particular genius of Vonnegut's work, and certainly encourages or reignites quietly dormant fandom." --Rosslyn Almond, Transnational Literature

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