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"An Unwavering Band of Light": Kurt Vonnegut and the Psychedelic Revolution

Psenicka, Carly
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1433433145

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts in English, Youngstown State University, Department of Languages.
This thesis explores the connection of the hippies involved in the psychedelic revolution to four of the 1960s-era novels of countercultural author Kurt Vonnegut: Cat’s Cradle, The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Breakfast of Champions. Adopted as a literary idol by the college-age counterculture early on in the decade, by the end of the 1960s, when the counterculture had also hit its stride, Vonnegut became enormously successful with both counterculture and mainstream audiences. Scholars have largely attributed this success to the antiwar sentiments that characterized the nation in 1969, when Vonnegut published his antiwar novel Slaughterhouse-Five; consequently, when Vonnegut’s connections to the youth counterculture are studied, more often than not, his works are primarily linked with countercultural antiwar and political activist groups. I argue, however, that the hippies of the psychedelic revolution also composed a large part of Vonnegut’s audience, because his novels contained elements that matched their specific ideology as well as his pacifistic messages reflected the central concerns of antiwar and political activist groups. While many scholars have investigated the antiwar and political activists’ appreciation of Vonnegut’s professed beliefs and his writing, I posit that the less politically involved hippies also enjoyed Vonnegut’s novels because of their similarities to the psychedelic experience.
Linda Strom, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Diana Awad-Scrocco, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Stephanie Tingley, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
135 p.
American Literature; American Studies
Kurt Vonnegut; counterculture; psychedelic revolution

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Psenicka, C. (2015). "An Unwavering Band of Light": Kurt Vonnegut and the Psychedelic Revolution [Master's thesis, Youngstown State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1433433145

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Psenicka, Carly. "An Unwavering Band of Light": Kurt Vonnegut and the Psychedelic Revolution. 2015. Youngstown State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1433433145.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Psenicka, Carly. ""An Unwavering Band of Light": Kurt Vonnegut and the Psychedelic Revolution." Master's thesis, Youngstown State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1433433145

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Youngstown State University and OhioLINK.