Almanac of Story Tellers: Kurt Vonnegut.

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of Nov. 11th

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    It is the 315th day of the year, leaving 50 days remaining in 2022. 

   

    On this date in 1922, the author Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis.

    He wrote his stories with a satiric voice, dark humor, and a worldview that embraced humanistic values. He could be resigned and cynical, yet idealistic. 

    When he wrote Slaughterhouse Five in 1968 -- a fantastical, allegorical novel based somewhat on Vonnegut's experiences during the firebombing of Dresden during World War II -- its strong, moralistic anti-war view caught on with the youth protesting the Vietnam War. 

    He started his writing career as a reporter with the City News Bureau in Chicago, which he joined after a stint in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was captured by the German Army and and survived the Dresden bombing by hiding out in a slaughterhouse.

    In the 1950s, he wrote numerous short stories, many dark and pessimistic, on technology and the future. His first novel, Player Piano, continued in that vein, while his second, The Sirens of Titan, explored the past, propounding the idea that life on Earth came about as a mistake by an alien spacecraft.

    In the 1960s, he found an irreverent voice, writing novels about an American writer who was a spy in Nazi Germany, (Mother Night), an obscure Caribbean religion that mistakenly ends life on earth (Cat's Cradle), and a capitalist who starts giving away money (God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater). The latter novel introduced the writer, Kilgour Trout, a stand-in for Vonnegut who appears in many succeeding novels.

    Vonnegut's novels in the 1970s and 1980s also drew on questioning social values and American society for their themes. He also explored how people find a purpose in life, or questioning whether life actually has a purpose.

    In addition to his novels and short stories, Vonnegut wrote a number of plays and non-fiction essays. He was a popular speaker, particularly on college campuses.

    He died in 2007 in New York.