{"title":"美国法西斯主义与冯母亲之夜的历史背景","authors":"Susan A. Farrell","doi":"10.2979/jmodelite.46.1.09","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Kurt Vonnegut’s work, with the exception of Slaughterhouse-Five, is often dismissed as too simply written, too whimsical, and too reliant on genre-specific forms to be considered serious literature. His 1962 novel Mother Night is no exception; even Vonnegut scholars tend to emphasize the book’s absurdity and the cartoonish nature of its characters. But previously neglected historical background reveals parallels between Vonnegut’s characters and specific real-life American fascists active in the 1930s and 40s. Mother Night engages deeply and meaningfully with American history as it exposes the bona fide danger of a virulently fascist and white supremacist underbelly in America that did not disappear with the defeat of the Nazis in 1945.","PeriodicalId":44453,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF MODERN LITERATURE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"American Fascism and the Historical Underpinnings of Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night\",\"authors\":\"Susan A. Farrell\",\"doi\":\"10.2979/jmodelite.46.1.09\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Abstract:Kurt Vonnegut’s work, with the exception of Slaughterhouse-Five, is often dismissed as too simply written, too whimsical, and too reliant on genre-specific forms to be considered serious literature. His 1962 novel Mother Night is no exception; even Vonnegut scholars tend to emphasize the book’s absurdity and the cartoonish nature of its characters. But previously neglected historical background reveals parallels between Vonnegut’s characters and specific real-life American fascists active in the 1930s and 40s. Mother Night engages deeply and meaningfully with American history as it exposes the bona fide danger of a virulently fascist and white supremacist underbelly in America that did not disappear with the defeat of the Nazis in 1945.\",\"PeriodicalId\":44453,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"JOURNAL OF MODERN LITERATURE\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-12-22\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"JOURNAL OF MODERN LITERATURE\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.2979/jmodelite.46.1.09\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"文学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"LITERATURE\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF MODERN LITERATURE","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jmodelite.46.1.09","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
American Fascism and the Historical Underpinnings of Kurt Vonnegut’s Mother Night
Abstract:Kurt Vonnegut’s work, with the exception of Slaughterhouse-Five, is often dismissed as too simply written, too whimsical, and too reliant on genre-specific forms to be considered serious literature. His 1962 novel Mother Night is no exception; even Vonnegut scholars tend to emphasize the book’s absurdity and the cartoonish nature of its characters. But previously neglected historical background reveals parallels between Vonnegut’s characters and specific real-life American fascists active in the 1930s and 40s. Mother Night engages deeply and meaningfully with American history as it exposes the bona fide danger of a virulently fascist and white supremacist underbelly in America that did not disappear with the defeat of the Nazis in 1945.