I noticed that Billy talks about his book being famous, despite not even being written yet, multiple times. In chapter one, there is a quote that states: "I was not to be disturbed. I was working on my famous book about Dresden" (Vonnegut, 18). This quote sparked a question in my mind, which is how did Billy, or Vonnegut know that this book was going to be famous one day? Was it confidence in himself that his writing would be "famous worthy"? Arrogance that his writing could beat the odds of becoming famous? Or was it a combination of the two or something else entirely? This "knowing" of the book becoming famous one day, reminds me of The Grapes of Wrath.
The Grapes of Wrath is a famous book and is taught in many schools around the nation. However, Steinbeck did not write it in hopes that, one day, high school students would analyze the book. His purpose was something else entirely. My connection between these two pieces of literature is that one book, Slaughterhouse Five, makes it seems to the readers very early in the book, that it was "meant" to be famous. While on the other hand, the other novel, The Grapes of Wrath, no such feeling is given off as one reads it.
Wow, this is a very interesting observation! However as I thought about your questions, I found out that I believe that the quote (on page 18) was not about Slaughterhouse Five, (and I may be entirely wrong on this). But in the end of chapter one, he says "I finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and it had to be , since it was written by a pillar of salt" (Vonnegut 22). After reading this quote I feel as if the book that his is describing in the first quote may not actually be about Slaughterhouse Five, but perhaps a different book.
ReplyDeleteSo what I'm saying, is I see where you are coming from in asking the question of arrogance in writers, but I also feel as if Vonnegut is not arrogant, but meek, and in someway not proud of this specific novel, but perhaps he was arrogant about another.
I had a difficult time trying to form my response to this because I can see why you think that the particular quote, on page eighteen, is not about Slaughterhouse Five and you have backed up your answer with quotes from the book, and maybe I had misinterpreted the text. After rereading both quotes, I would have to disagree with you and say that the quote is about Slaughterhouse Five. I say this because the book he is talking about is the one about Dresden, and from the summary on the back of the book, "Centering on the infamous firebombing on Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's..." (Vonnegut, back cover), it shows that the primary focus is going to be about Dresden because of the words "Centering on the..". As for the quote at the end of Chapter One, I feel like it's still about the war book (Slaughterhouse Five), when he (Vonnegut) is talking about the failure. The full quote is, "I finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and it had to be , since it was written by a pillar of salt. It begins like this:" (Vonnegut, 22). When it says, "It begins like this", I interpreted it as he is talking about the failure book (Slaughterhouse Five). In other words, I think the failed book and the war book are the same, and Slaughterhouse Five is that book. However, I could be wrong as well but when I read those particular quotes with the context surrounding them, it seemed to me that it was about Slaughterhouse Five.
DeleteOk so I think that we are in agreement... after the quote from the back cover, I completely agree that the war book and book about dresden in Slaughterhouse five.
DeleteAnd I think that we are agreement that he thought that this book (Slaughterhouse Five) would become famous, however, I also think that he thought it was a failure in his own eyes. Do you agree that we are in agreement?
Yes, I do agree with that statement about Vonnegut being a failure in his own eyes.
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