War Drama; Autobiography; Postmodernism
War Drama
This is not your typical war drama. For one thing, the war is over. For another, our main character never even saw any fighting during WWII. Actually, everybody in this novel is a spy; nobody's out on the battlefields with a bazooka. Okay, yes, there are a few other odd jobs in there, but you get what we mean: this isn't your average shoot-'em-up.
So what's the deal? Well, this text deals with the aftermath of war. War's got far-reaching effects—especially a huge planetary war like WWII. Now it's 1961, and people are still dealing with their traumas. Trauma—that right there is the main reason this gets looped into the war drama genre. Whoa, say that three times fast.
Autobiography
Whose trauma drama are we reading about, anyway? Oh, yeah: this is Howard W. Campbell, Jr.'s autobiography. Sort of. He's a fictional character, so it's kind of hard to have an earnest memoir when you're not real. But this baby's got all the trappings of an autobio: childhood, love life, career angst, Blue Fairy Godmother. You get the idea. All told from the first-person perspective, from the character's own pen.
Postmodernism
Wait a minute. ¿Qué? What's a Blue Fairy Godmother doing in this not-so-Cinderella war story? Oh, yeah: Vonnegut's novel is a postmodern piece, which means it's a little helter skelter. Just to clear things up a bit, Vonnegut isn't pulling a Donnie Darko—Blue Fairy Godmother is just a nickname for Campbell's handler once Campbell becomes a spy. See, it's all totally normal.
Well, kind of.
Anyway, so what is it that makes postmodernism tick? Well, lots of things. One is the dizzying array of characters, all of whom are a little—or a lot—paranoid. Another is the scope of the story, as it jumps from various times and places. A third characteristic is the text's willingness to be whackadoo and super self-aware at the same time. One last thing: we're not calling Vonnegut a nihilist, but one of the calling cards of postmodern works is that they question the validity of meaning and our ability to access any kind of objective truth.
Want a sample? Here's Resi, age ten:
'It doesn't mean anything,' she said. 'Nothing means anything. You go shoot the dog now.' (19.35-37)
Yeah, we're in postmod country here, folks. Don't worry about breaking anything. Nobody'll notice. Except Werner Noth.