Background
The novel was published in 1976 and is a bizarre meditation on the nature of the closeness Vonnegut had with his sister Alice, who died of cancer in 1958. Alice's husband had died in a train accident two days before her death. Vonnegut adopted and raised her children. The novel was written shortly after the death of the author's uncle. In it, Vonnegut and his sister transform into Swain "Neanderthaloid" dizygotic twins. When minds of both twins were combined together they formed a genius, a beautiful Swan (Swain twins). Twins felt that they become the ugly duckling as separated individuals. When self-assessing his own work, Vonnegut graded Slapstick as D. Written in an almost free associative style, the book lacks the structural intricacies of Vonnegut's earlier works.
Read more about this topic: Slapstick (novel)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)