Or so it goes : the representation of trauma in Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughterhouse-five’

Abstract

Within this dissertation, Kurt Vonnegut’s seminal work Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) is read through the application of trauma theory, with a focus on whether this novel succeeds in representing what is often deemed as unrepresentable. The introduction maps the main features which characterise Slaughterhouse-Five, outlining the pacifistic intention of this post-war novel, and defining the need for an analysis through trauma theory. In Chapter One, Slaughterhouse-Five as a breakthrough within Vonnegut’s career will be studied, assessing also the continued significance of this work fifty-one years on from its publication. This will be followed, in Chapter Two, by an investigation of the elements which define the novel as an undeniably postmodernist work, whilst lightly threading upon the particularity of the postmodernist mode as a frame which is adept at representing trauma.This will be done with particular reference to Linda Hutcheon’s configuration of the excentric and historiographic metafiction in its use of a fragmented narrative and ironic distance as techniques which portray trauma. The main protagonist of the novel, Billy Pilgrim, will then be given particular attention as an example of antiheroic mould –– a stock character within postmodernist works which in Vonnegut allows for trauma to be represented in full force. The final chapter will then consider trauma by referring primarily to the theoretical frameworks found within Cathy Caruth’s Unclaimed Experience and Dominick LaCapra’s Writing History, Writing Trauma. The conclusion will then bring argument made within the dissertation to a close, characterising whether Slaughterhouse-Five truly succeeds in representing trauma.