Introduction Vonnegut:A Postmodernist Novelist with Humanistic Ideas 2
Chapter 1 Historical and Theoretical Contexts 10
Ⅰ.The Historical Context for Vonnegut's Humanism 10
Ⅱ.The Theoretical Context for Vonnegut's Postmodernist Innovations 19
1.The General Scene of the Postmodern Culture 19
2.Derrida's Theories of Deconstruction 26
3.Lyotard's Delegitimation 32
4.Hassan's Aesthetic Characteristics of Postmodernist Art 36
5.New Historicism 41
6.Vonnegut's Postmodernist Sense of Chaos 42
Chapter 2 Vonnegut's Deconstruction of the Real World 47
Ⅰ.Vonnegut Deconstructs Science and Technology 48
1.Machine:The Cause of Loneliness of Human Beings 48
2.Science:The Cause of the Destruction of the Human World 52
Ⅱ.Vonnegut Deconstructs the Capitalist Society 56
1.The Dirty Source and Implications of the Capitalists' Money 57
2.The Law Only Protects the Capitalist America 61
3.Capitalism Destroys the Environment and Culture 68
Chapter 3 Vonnegut's Reconstruction of the Real World 72
Ⅰ.Dignity Against Mechanization 73
Ⅱ.Kindness Against War 77
Ⅲ.Fellowship Against Loneliness 81
Ⅳ.Survive by Ceasing to Be Fully Human 83
Ⅴ.The Ways to Adapt to Chaos 87
1.Black Humor 87
2.Schizophrenia 93
3.New Religions 96
Chapter 4 Vonnegut's Deconstruction of the Fictional World 103
Ⅰ.The Development of the Novel from Realism to Modernism and Postmodernism 104
Ⅱ.Metafiction 112
Ⅲ.Vonnegut's Metafictional Novels 118
1.Slaughterhouse-Five:A Novel About How to Write This Novel 118
2.Breakfast of Champions:An Anti-Novel 125
3.Deadeye Dick:The Metafictional“Plays-Within-the-Play” 129
Ⅳ.The Aesthetic Features of Vonnegut's Deconstruction of the Fictional World 131
1.Indeterminacy in Meaning and Narration 131
2.Fragmentation in the Text 138
3.Decanonization:The Delegitimation of the Grand Narratives 141
4.Selflessness,Depthlessness:Postmodern People—All Kinds of Machines 150
5.The Unpresentable,Unrepresentable Subjects 156
Chapter 5 Vonnegut's Reconstruction of the Fictional World 164
Ⅰ.Irony:The Suspensive Multiple Irony in Cat's Cradle 164
1.The Belied Truths 166
2.The True Lies 167
3.Ironic Fatalism 168
4.An Attack Against Christianity and a Parody of the Origin of Religions 169
5.Self-invalidating Contradictions 171
Ⅱ.Hybridization:the Variant Imitation of Genres 172
1.Deadeye Dick:A Mixture of Fiction and History 174
2.Timequake:A Stew of Novel and Memoir 176
Ⅲ.Carnivalization:Breakfast of Champions—a Polyphonic Novel 179
1.Participation in the Wild Disorder of Life 181
2.Polyphony Caused by the Centrifugal Power of Language 183
Ⅳ.Performance and Participation in Writing the Text 187
Ⅴ.Constructionism:The New Gnosticism in Vonnegut's Science Fiction 193
1.Relativity Against Eternity 194
2.The Absurd Notion of a Final Accounting 197
3.A Crime to Use Science for Making Killing Weapons 198
Ⅵ.Immanence in the Discourse 200
1.Language Refers to Itself and Becomes the Hero 201
2.Language Turns Culture into an Immanent Semiotic System 204
Chapter 6 Vonnegut's Tendency Toward New Historicism 209
Ⅰ.The Rising of New Historicism 209
Ⅱ.The Basic Theories of New Historicism 212
Ⅲ.Vonnegut's New Historical Novels 215
1.The Historical Event in a Circular Language Structure 215
2.The Historical Events Appropriated for Special Interests 222
Conclusion Vonnegut:A New Direction—Constantly Innovating in Forms to Express Profound Meaning 230
Works Cited 237
Index 247
后记 252