关键词：库尔特•冯尼古特，《五号屠场》，新历史主义，历史性，文本性
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.i
Abstractii
摘要.iii
1 Introduction.1
1.1 Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five.1
1.2 New Historicism……………….2
1.3 Literature Review.3
2 The Historicity of Texts in Slaughterhouse-Five.5
2.1 The Experience of Vonnegut and Its Reflection in Text.5
2.2 Postwar World and Its Overview…7
2.3 The Quotation of Historical Texts8
3 The Textuality of History in Slaughterhouse-Five9
3.1 The Narrative Tactics of Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five.9
3.2 The Characterization of Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse-Five10
3.3 The Structure of Texts in Slaughterhouse-Five12
4 The Historical Function of Slaughterhouse-Five13
4.1 Establishing the Relation Between Fiction and History.13
4.2 Unveiling the Vacuousness of War.14
4.3 Disclosing the Depression and Hypocrisy within Human Civilization15
5 Conclusion18
Bibliography20
1 Introduction
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), an American black humorist, and surely he was one of the greatest and the most symbolic author of the American black humor literature. One of the outstanding features of the works of Kurt Vonnegut is to present the tragic contents within the form of a comedy, and laugh out loud in front of the fact of despair, absurd and catastrophe. He published fourteen novels and also eight series of short stories and essays in his career of writing and creation. Kurt Vonnegut’s works were affected massively by his personal life experience．Kurt Vonnegut’s most representative work of all, Slaughterhouse-Five is a typical metafiction with a lot unique narrative skills which manifested in the idea of new historicism. For the purpose of understanding better the writing skills and concept of Kurt Vonnegut, then knowing sufficient relevant information and background knowledge of the very life experience of the author himself and historical and cultural background of his age shall be considered a necessity. Therefore, some basic pieces of information and details of Kurt Vonnegut, his works, the new historicism and some relevant literature reviews are to be introduced in the following chapter.
1.1 Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut was considered to be the most profound influential author of America within the time of twentieth century. Kurt Vonnegut was talented in writing story of misery in the form of comedy for the purpose of showing massive crafty contrast and being deliberate and intentional sarcastic to sneer at and satirize the absurd world as well as some crazy phenomenon of human civilization within the visage of despair and disorder. He was also famous for his outstanding and unique skills of writing.
Kurt Vonnegut was born in a rich family in Indianapolis, Indiana. During his time in high school, Kurt Vonnegut acquired some basic writing experience by writing newspaper for the school. When he went to the university, his major was science, which was not his own idea to choose but his parents forced him to do so. Undoubtedly he showed merely no interest at all in these subjects, nevertheless, the experience of the study of nature science granted him some handy information and taught him an independent and objective way of thinking, which was logical and rational. These perks offered him a lot of help in his future creation of his great works. In the University of Cornell, he carried on his work as a journalist, later on he became a chief editor and columnist due to his remarkable writing talent. After the World War I, the family of Kurt Vonnegut’s was heavily affected and stricken. In the year of 1943, Kurt Vonnegut enlisted in the army and then he was deployed to the front of Europe in the following year. Afterwards, he was imprisoned by Germen in a battle. In Dresden, he witnessed the notorious bombing, which took away the lives of 135000 people and shattered the world famous historic city. This dreadful experience greatly affected his life forever. Due to the awful experience he was supplied with the basic writing materials of Slaughterhouse-Five. 新历史主义视角下的《五号屠场》(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_37595.html