Chronosynclastic Paradigm in Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan
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Kurt Vonnegut’s worldview was a product of the Great Depression and World War II. These events affected his outlook on the meaning of existence and on the way the world worked. He was convinced that industrialization and the mechanization of humanity would lead to more problems as history progressed. Vonnegut produced The Sirens of Titan as a means for exploring the philosophical implications of modern science as he focues on the significant problem of the meaning or lack of it in human history. Many critics have strived to identify The Sirens of Titan in relation to postmodernism, and in particular to poststructuralist point of view by considering its thematic elements and contextual components. I suggest an alternate approach that acknowledges existential and moral aspects of the novel. In fact, Vonnegut in The Sirens of Titan offers a new perspective in the analysis of reality—namely, an acknowledge of a chronosynclastic paradigm that accounts for a postmodernist chaotic scientific paradigm and a modern Newtonian paradigm. In order to explore these issues, I will be using the Bakhtin’s theory of the chronotope as a site that elaborates the image of man in association with time-space. This will allow us to fully appreciate Vonnegut’s vision of humanity. I argue that Vonnegut proposes a chronosynclastic paradigm of the universe that allow readers to explore Vonnegut’s existential and moralistic vision of humanity.
Abstract
Kurt Vonnegut’s worldview was a product of the Great Depression and World War II. These events affected his outlook on the meaning of existence and on the way the world worked. He was convinced that industrialization and the mechanization of humanity would lead to more problems as history progressed. Vonnegut produced The Sirens of Titan as a means for exploring the philosophical implications of modern science as he focues on the significant problem of the meaning or lack of it in human history. Many critics have strived to identify The Sirens of Titan in relation to postmodernism, and in particular to poststructuralist point of view by considering its thematic elements and contextual components. I suggest an alternate approach that acknowledges existential and moral aspects of the novel. In fact, Vonnegut in The Sirens of Titan offers a new perspective in the analysis of reality—namely, an acknowledge of a chronosynclastic paradigm that accounts for a postmodernist chaotic scientific paradigm and a modern Newtonian paradigm. In order to explore these issues, I will be using the Bakhtin’s theory of the chronotope as a site that elaborates the image of man in association with time-space. This will allow us to fully appreciate Vonnegut’s vision of humanity. I argue that Vonnegut proposes a chronosynclastic paradigm of the universe that allow readers to explore Vonnegut’s existential and moralistic vision of humanity.
참고문헌 (14)
- Bakhtin, M. M, "The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays" (2008), U of Texas P
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- Wolfe, G. K, "Vonnegut and the Metaphor of Science Fiction : The Sirens of Titan", Journal of Popular Culture, 5(4), pp.964~969 (1972)