In this revised edition of a volume originally published in 1989, Lawrence Broer extends his comprehensive critique of the body of writing by Kurt Vonnegut. Broer offers a broad psychoanalytic study of Vonnegut’s works from Player Piano to Hocus Pocus, taking a decisively new approach to the work of one of America’s most important, yet often misinterpreted writers. A compelling and original analysis, Sanity Plea, explores how Vonnegut incorporates his personal experiences into an art that is not defeatist, but rather creatively therapeutic and life-affirming.
| Preface | ||
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Introduction: Madness in a Modern Mode | 1 | |
| 1 | Player Piano: A Looney Tune for the Masses | 17 |
| 2 | Sirens of Titan: Though This Be Madness, Yet There Is Method in It | 29 |
| 3 | Mother Night: Nations of Lunatics | 45 |
| 4 | Cat's Cradle: Jonah and the Whale | 57 |
| 5 | God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: The Saga of Vonnegut's Sanest Lunatic | 67 |
| 6 | Slaughterhouse-Five: Pilgrim's Progress | 85 |
| 7 | Breakfast of Champions: Spiritual Crossroads | 97 |
| 8 | Slapstick: The Meaning of the Dizygotic Twins | 111 |
| 9 | Jailbird: The Madness of RAMJAC | 121 |
| 10 | Deadeye Dick: The Resolution of Vonnegut's Creative Schizophrenia | 135 |
| 11 | Galapagos: Oedipus at Galapagos | 151 |
| 12 | Bluebeard: Redemption and the Unwavering Light | 161 |
| 13 | Hartke's Hearing: Vonnegut's Heroes on Trial | 177 |
| Notes | 197 | |
| Selected Bibliography | 225 | |
| Index | 231 |
Overview
In this revised edition of a volume originally published in 1989, Lawrence Broer extends his comprehensive critique of the body of writing by Kurt Vonnegut. Broer offers a broad psychoanalytic study of Vonnegut’s works from Player Piano to Hocus Pocus, taking a decisively new approach to the work of one of America’s most important, yet often misinterpreted writers. A compelling and original analysis, Sanity Plea, explores how Vonnegut incorporates his personal experiences into ...