On The Postmodern Aesthetic Features In Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five is the masterpiece of the contemporary American writer, Kurt Vonnegut. It is one of the representative works of black humor. By depicting the Allied firebombing in Dresden during the World War II, the writer expresses his attitude toward war and death. Vonnegut experienced the firebombing himself, and it took him nearly 20 years to speak this unspeakable. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut reconnects the historical and imaginary, the realistic and fantastic to reflect the horror of war and the absurdity of modern American society.In this thesis, the postmodern aesthetic features are analyzed in respect to metafiction, deconstruction, reconstruction and black humor. By using metaficiton, Vonnegut abandons the traditional novel form and narrative, and shows the deconstructive aesthetic features. While deconstructing, Vonnegut reconstructs the novel world to manifest the reconstructive aesthetic features. Besides, Vonnegut employs black humor to expose the absurdity of the society. All the features co-exist in serving of the theme of the novel investigated.