「スローターハウス5号」再考

概要

論文の詳細を見る
During World War II, Kurt Vonnegut, as a young soldier, was captured and sent to Dresden, where he witnessed the most horrible atrocity in European history, the Dresden firebombing. This survivor experience, along with his heartbreaking experience of confronting his mother's sudden death nine months before, haunted his mind as trauma for a long time. He gradually recovered from this trauma by creating works of art, among which Slaughterhouse-Five is the central one. From this point of view, the American psychohistorian, R. J. Lifton designates Slaughterhouse-Five as the literature of survival, from which, he argues, evolves the literature of mockery. He also suggests that "to touch death and then rejoin the living can be a source of insight and power, and that this is true not only for those exposed to holocaust, or to the death of parent or lover or friend, but also for those who have permitted themselves to experience fully the 'end of an era,' personal or historical." This essay introduces Lifton's argument about the nature and possibilities of the literature of survival and of the literature of mockery, and attempts to propose a new approach for a better understanding of Slaughterhouse-Five.
プール学院大学の論文
1999-12-31