Authorial Anxiety in Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Abstract

This research examines Kurt Vonnegut‘s novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1968), focusing on the author's authorial anxiety and how his profound thoughts and persistent worries as a writer influenced the form and content of his work .This will be done through the lens of postmodernism, with a specific focus on the influence of Vonnegut's authorial anxiety on the book's content and the techniques used to portray the war and violence. The profound connections between Vonnegut's identity as a writer and his internal struggles result in unconventional content and specific techniques used in SlaughterhouseFive: dark humour, metafiction, and time jumps. This research paper consists of three chapters. The first one a theoretical exploration of the problems related to the notion of authorship and their influence on the American postmodern writers. The second chapter will focus on the thematic choices of Kurt Vonnegut that reflect his authorial anxiety. The third chapter will examine the literary devices deployed in Slaughterhouse-Five that reflect the author’s sense of anxiety.