The Open Textual World Of Reference: An Intertextual Interpretation Of Vonnegut’s Novels

A seasoned postmodern American writer of keen perception, Kurt Vonneguthas attempted in his writing, by virtue of his unique styles and techniques, to portraythe reality as it is, to unmask man and mankind, and to awaken people with hisprophecy that sci-tech advancement and civilization may deal a blow on humansociety. The14novels to his credit have addressed the following realms as thescourge that war has brought upon mankind, the toll that sci-tech has claimed on manand nature, the manipulation that state apparatus has imposed on humanity anddestiny, as well as the havoc that hegemony has wreaked on capitalism, breedinggreed and triggering the deformation of human nature.Scholars home and abroad have conducted fruitful studies on Vonnegut s novelsas regards themes and techniques, the former of which include war, eco-environment,humanity, etc, and the latter of which comprise meta-fiction, black humor, grotesque,irony and so on. Based on the above-mentioned achievements, this dissertationattempts to shed new theoretical light on Vonnegut s14novels from the perspectiveof intertextuality, a decoding formula, which reigns in the following aspects such asopen architecutre, inter-texuality and reference which crystallizes on the strength ofsuch research approaches as close reading, trans-disciplinary theorizing, etc. Thedissertation aims at analyzing how Vonnegut establishes a close relationship amonghis14novels and how he succeeds in bridging his fictional texts with the externalcultural texts via reference. An intertextual interpretation of the fictional texts is adiachronic and synchronic inter-textual study of the relationship among fictional texts,and the relationship between fictional and non-fictional texts, conducted in a widercontext and with an advantage of going beyond the fictional texts. The dissertationexpounds the following points: Vonnegut has, rather than subjecting himself totraditional writing styles and techniques, given full scope to the advantages of realism,modernism and post-modernism and applied creatively and in a combined way suchfictional genres and techniques as science fiction, meta-fiction and autobiographicalfiction. The transcendence of fictional genres, the combination of narrative modes, theemployment of non-fictional language and the decentralized plotline has characterizedhis fictional texts with open architecture. Vonnegut s novels are thereforeintertextualized and closely related with each other by means of such writing techniques as the re-portrayal of anti-heroes and Vonnegut s spokesman and thereiteration of the same themes. As a result, all his novels cohere somehow or otherthanks to his application of such intertexutal devices as parody, citation and allusion,which help to refer or allude to such non-fictional texts as political, literary andreligious texts, etc. and the Utopian worlds, present and future human worlds as wellas the other planetary worlds in terms of novel setting and thematic development.The Introduction gives an overview of Vonnegut s studies regarding results,contents, approaches and significances, and besides, elaborates on the key terms, i.e.,intertextuality, openness, inter-textuality and reference. Chapter One addresses theoutstanding features of his textual openness, a feature that asserts itself in thefollowing aspects such as genre, narration, diction, plot and so on, aiming at analyzinghow Vonnegut accomplishes the textual openness by combining realism, modernism,postmodernism and employing science fiction, meta-fiction and autobiographicalfiction. Chapter Two tackles two problems: first, the inter-textuality of Vonnegut snovels in terms of theme and characters, both of which help unveil the integration ofhis novels through internal relationship and reference; Chapter Three addresses howVonnegut employs the technique of reference to highlight the intertextuality betweenhis literary world and the outer ones, historical and literary, etc. as well as the manysocieties and worlds, a link which presents itself in the development of theme and thecreation of background.The above studies lead to the following conclusions: Vonnegut s novels prove asalad of various writing styles which inherit the realistic and the modernistic, upsetthe traditional narrating and portraying, and employ the post-modernistic to foster anopen architecture of his novels in which references as a writing technique help blurthe distinctions between the fictional and the non-fictional; this open architecture,together with his references to other cultures and worlds, has helped shape the uniqueintertextuality echoing within his literary realm and that between his literary worldand the outer one, highlighting the uncertainty, instability, disorder and chaos, all ofwhich reign over the modern society, the future society, and the inner world ofmankind. Vonnegut as a forerunner sets the trend of post-modernistic writing featuredby his unique openness and reference; Vonnegut s novels unmask the disturbances,disasters and crises looming out for mankind, awaken people to the true colors of thereality and the humanity, and attempt to see them through.Approaching Vonnegut s novels from the perspective of intertextuality, readersmay have a clear notion of the correlations within his writings, and those between his literary world and the outer one, make it a practice to detect the intertextual clueswhile reading, and appreciate literature with the help of pretextual accumulations.Intertexual studies underline the inter-textual and the inter-categorical, proceeding inthe context of criticism, correlation and free communication, and contributing toliterature studies theoretically and methodologically.