Vonnegut as a Bug in Amber:
Connection of Fiction and Autobiography 
in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

by Marek Vit (2002)


ABSTRACT

     The works  of the American writer  Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is
noted  for recurring  characters, ideas  and themes.  One of
these is surely the fact that his characters do not have any
free  will. Vonnegut  calls  this  feature "bugs  in amber",
because  people in  his books  do not  have any more freedom
than insects trapped in amber. This point of view from which
his characters and humanity  in general is seen, corresponds
closely with  Vonnegut's life. This novelist  is a World War
II  veteran, one  of the   few survivors  of the  bombing of
Dresden, where Vonnegut was as a prisoner-of-war. It is this
war  experience  above  all  that  makes  Vonnegut feel like
a "bug trapped in amber". His  works, however, does not show
helplessness or resignation, but looking for the way out. As
his  characters slowly  find their  way out,  Vonnegut finds
his, and in his case the way leads through literature.


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

	INTRODUCTION			
	CHAPTER I: Humanity			
	    Characteristics of Humanity		
	    Playthings, puppets			
	    Human life and its value		
	    Bugs in Amber			
	CHAPTER II: Divinity
	    Characteristics of Divinity		
	    Other Divinity characters		
	    The Divine Father			
	    Religion				
	CHAPTER III: Hero vs Villain
	    Hero vs. Villain			
	    Unsuccessful Ways Out
	    Successful Ways Out 			
	    Humanity vs. Divinity			
	    On meaning and purpose of life	
	CHAPTER IV: Vonnegut as the Hero
	    Fiction and Autobiography merged	
	    Vonnegutīs amber			
	    Vonnegutīs ways out
	CONCLUSION
	List of Abbreviations Used			
	Bibliography

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Last modified: April 6, 2002