I think “Chapter 1” is the wrong name for the first part of Kurt Vonnegut´s Slaughterhouse-five. It should simply be called “Introduction”, because honestly, that’s what it is. It is completely different from the rest of the novel, because it is autobiographical. Vonnegut talks, in first person, about Dresden and the war experiences and how he intends to write a book about it. Though I think the main idea of this introduction, is the confusing writing process of Vonnegut, as he struggles to put the experiences on paper. He tells us that he doesn't remember almost anything, so he goes and visits his veteran friend O´Hare, to see if together, they can shed light upon the events that constituted his experiences in Dresden, as a war prisoner. Vonnegut clearly comes out and says that he is incapable of writing this book, that in his messy process, he encounters what we could call a wall. He is blocked by it, already having his brilliant outline, but not being able to write the book.
I am completely familiar with the problem that Vonnegut describes in “Chapter 1”. Honestly, I even encountered it at the beginning of this assignment. Though, I´d never expect a successful writer to encounter those types of problems, just like people don’t expect doctors to get sick. But as Vonnegut puts it, it happens, even to the best of us, and it´s hard to get over it. I think maybe it happens to him because of his mixed feelings towards the war, or because he creates a writing process in his perception of time: cyclical.
His perception of time first changes when he is stuck in Boston before going to Dresden. Where he says that it seemed as if someone was playing with clocks, or time itself. This perception if time is show in the lumberjack song, whose last lime is also the first line, making it an endless loop. Will this perception of time take a bigger role in the rest of the book?
Vonnegut talks so clearly about his confusion before starting the book, that I get the feeling that he actually wrote this “Chapter 1” after finishing the whole book. Because honestly, if he was in fact in such a mess of ideas as he describes, would he really be able to look upon it so clearly and describe it as he does?
Your last paragraph was funny I had not realized that maybe he was writing about his finished work. I also agree with what you say at the beginning about the first paragraph being detached to the rest, but I feel "Chapter 1" is appropriate, it gives start to the story the story of his book and his journey so all the book is kinda "autobiography" material, for me at least.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading both of your reading blogs well done.