Thursday To honor the 50th anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, I am reposting an essay about how Vonnegut used science fiction to come to terms with the Battle of the Bulge and the Dresden bombing, both of which he experienced first-hand. I owe the ideas to student Chris Hammond, who devoted his senior project […]
Tag Archives: World War II
How Vonnegut Faced His Demons
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Battle of the Bulge, Cat's Cradle, Firebombing of Dresden, Kurt Vonnegut, PTSD, Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five Comments closed
Exposing Stalin-Style Fake News
Monday NeverTrumper Jennifer Rubin made a Stalin allusion on MSNBC’s A. M. Joy yesterday that caught my eye because I am currently reading a novel about Stalin’s Soviet Union during the German invasion. Vasily Grossman’s extraordinary Life and Fate (1960), resembles Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the way it captures the country at a moment […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged fake news, Fox News, Jim Jordan, Joseph Stalin, Life and Fate, Ukraine's forced famine of 1932, Vasily Grossman Comments closed
A “Greatest Generation” Vet Reflects
In the reminiscence about his World War II experiences, my father finds it difficult to capture what it was really like
My Father Moved through Dooms of War
My father’s recollections of the D Day beaches influenced his poetry.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Greatest Generation", D Day, dementia, Normandy, Scott Bates, war Comments closed
Vonnegut’s Sci Fi Says the Unsayable
Yesterday I spent all day—from 9 am to 6 pm with occasional breaks—listening to our English majors present their senior projects. That I was energized rather than drained by the experience testifies to the strength of the talks. In today’s post I report on my student Chris Hammond’s essay on Kurt Vonnegut’s use of science […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Cat's Cradle, Dresden firebombing, Kurt Vonnegut, PTSD, science fiction, Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five Comments closed
Spring’s Triumph over War
In Henry Reed’s “Naming of Parts,” sexual spring wins out over a bureaucratic drill sergeant.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Naming of Part", "Spring", Henry Reed, Lessons of the War, Scott Bates Comments closed
Lesson of War: Fear + Fear = Hate
Two Scott Bates poems get at the dark days in America following World War II.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "1918-1948", "Strategists", anti-communism, arms manufacturers, Scott Bates, war Comments closed
The Meaning of Soldiers and Sex
My father’s tales of soldiers’ sexual experience in World War II remind me of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”
Still Falls the (Drone-Delivered) Rain
As the U.S. steps up drone attacks, Edith Sitwell reminds us of the psychological cost to ourselves.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Still Falls the Rain", bombing, drone attacks, Edith Sitwell Comments closed
