Introduction Vonnegut:A Postmodernist Novelist with Humanistic Ideas

Chapter 1 Historical and Theoretical Contexts

Ⅰ.The Historical Context for Vonnegut's Humanism

Ⅱ.The Theoretical Context for Vonnegut's Postmodernist Innovations

1.The General Scene of the Postmodern Culture

2.Derrida's Theories of Deconstruction

3.Lyotard's Delegitimation

4.Hassan's Aesthetic Characteristics of Postmodernist Art

5.New Historicism

6.Vonnegut's Postmodernist Sense of Chaos

Chapter 2 Vonnegut's Deconstruction of the Real World

Ⅰ.Vonnegut Deconstructs Science and Technology

1.Machine:The Cause of Loneliness of Human Beings

2.Science:The Cause of the Destruction of the Human World

Ⅱ.Vonnegut Deconstructs the Capitalist Society

1.The Dirty Source and Implications of the Capitalists' Money

2.The Law Only Protects the Capitalist America

3.Capitalism Destroys the Environment and Culture

Chapter 3 Vonnegut's Reconstruction of the Real World

Ⅰ.Dignity Against Mechanization

Ⅱ.Kindness Against War

Ⅲ.Fellowship Against Loneliness

Ⅳ.Survive by Ceasing to Be Fully Human

Ⅴ.The Ways to Adapt to Chaos

1.Black Humor

2.Schizophrenia

3.New Religions

Chapter 4 Vonnegut's Deconstruction of the Fictional World

Ⅰ.The Development of the Novel from Realism to Modernism and Postmodernism

Ⅱ.Metafiction

Ⅲ.Vonnegut's Metafictional Novels

1.Slaughterhouse-Five:A Novel About How to Write This Novel

2.Breakfast of Champions:An Anti-Novel

3.Deadeye Dick:The Metafictional“Plays-Within-the-Play”

Ⅳ.The Aesthetic Features of Vonnegut's Deconstruction of the Fictional World

1.Indeterminacy in Meaning and Narration

2.Fragmentation in the Text

3.Decanonization:The Delegitimation of the Grand Narratives

4.Selflessness,Depthlessness:Postmodern People—All Kinds of Machines

5.The Unpresentable,Unrepresentable Subjects

Chapter 5 Vonnegut's Reconstruction of the Fictional World

Ⅰ.Irony:The Suspensive Multiple Irony in Cat's Cradle

1.The Belied Truths

2.The True Lies

3.Ironic Fatalism

4.An Attack Against Christianity and a Parody of the Origin of Religions

5.Self-invalidating Contradictions

Ⅱ.Hybridization:the Variant Imitation of Genres

1.Deadeye Dick:A Mixture of Fiction and History

2.Timequake:A Stew of Novel and Memoir

Ⅲ.Carnivalization:Breakfast of Champions—a Polyphonic Novel

1.Participation in the Wild Disorder of Life

2.Polyphony Caused by the Centrifugal Power of Language

Ⅳ.Performance and Participation in Writing the Text

Ⅴ.Constructionism:The New Gnosticism in Vonnegut's Science Fiction

1.Relativity Against Eternity

2.The Absurd Notion of a Final Accounting

3.A Crime to Use Science for Making Killing Weapons

Ⅵ.Immanence in the Discourse

1.Language Refers to Itself and Becomes the Hero

2.Language Turns Culture into an Immanent Semiotic System

Chapter 6 Vonnegut's Tendency Toward New Historicism

Ⅰ.The Rising of New Historicism

Ⅱ.The Basic Theories of New Historicism

Ⅲ.Vonnegut's New Historical Novels

1.The Historical Event in a Circular Language Structure

2.The Historical Events Appropriated for Special Interests

Conclusion Vonnegut:A New Direction—Constantly Innovating in Forms to Express Profound Meaning

Works Cited

Index

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