Publisher's Synopsis
A new interpretation of the major works of Kurt Vonnegut, examining the importance of a Darwin-based mythology to his portrayals of American life.
Gilbert McInnis offers a fresh new take on one of America's most acclaimed and recognizable writers, one that reveals Kurt Vonnegut as an accomplished examiner and critic of American society. McInnis elaborates further, showing how Darwin's theory of evolution has itself evolved into a prevailing American mythology.
Kurt Vonnegut: Fiction and Science in the Modern World focuses on five major works-Galapagos, The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions. In each novel, McInnis shows how evolutionary science functions as the story's governing myth and as the key to the characters' understanding of how the world works and why things happen. McInnis also examines Vonnegut's portrayals of the effects of Darwinism on the changing face of humanity. Making explicit the previously underexamined connections between Vonnegut and Darwin, McInnis offers a rich new prism through which to interpret a vital strain of American literature.
Primary sources from the work of Vonnegut, Darwin, and other authors
An extensive bibliography covering not only Vonnegut, but critical works on myth, science, and science fiction in literature
A complete index including characters and themes from the Vonnegut works under examination
