Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is one of the most recongized and acclaimed writers working in the United States since the 1960s. Recognized for his use of Science Fiction techniques, as well as an Absurdist sensibility that has drawn comparisons with authors like Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, John Barth, and Edward Albee, Vonnegut is most famous for the ground-breaking war novel,

Slaughterhouse Five

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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born in 1922 to Kurt and Edith Lieber Vonnegut. His was a relatively prosperous family in Indianapolis’s German-American community. Vonnegut has himself demonstrated considerable pride in his upbringing in the city’s German community and also in his family’s interest in the arts–which he terms “the Vonnegut family business” in his memoir A Man Without a Country (15).

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Citation: Meche, Jude. "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 June 2006; last revised 12 April 2007. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4563, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4563 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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