Borrow it
Coverart for item
The Resource Cat's cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, (electronic resource)

Cat's cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, (electronic resource)

Creator
Contributor
Summary
Cat's Cradle (1963) is Vonnegut's most ambitious novel, which put into the language terms like "wampeter", "kerass" and "granfalloon" as well as a structured religion, Boskonism and was submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master's Degree in anthropology, and in its sprawling compass and almost uncontrolled (and uncontrollable) invention, may be Vonnegut's best novel. Written contemporaneously with the Cuban missile crisis and countenancing a version of a world in the grasp of magnified human stupidity, the novel is centered on Felix Hoenikker, a chemical scientist reminiscent of Robert Oppenheimer... except that Oppenheimer was destroyed by his conscience and Hoenikker, delighting in the disastrous chemicals he has invented, has no conscience at all. Hoenikker's "Ice 9" has the potential to convert all liquid to inert ice and thus destroy human existence; he is exiled to a remote island where Boskonism has enlisted all of its inhabitants and where religion and technology collaborate, with the help of a large cast of characters, to destroy civilization. Vonnegut's compassion and despair are expressed here through his grotesque elaboration of character and situation and also through his created religion which like Flannery O'Connor's "Church Without Christ" (in Wise Blood) acts to serve its adherents by removing them from individual responsibility. Vonnegut had always been taken seriously by science fiction readers and critics (a reception which indeed made him uncomfortable) but it was with Cat's Cradle that he began to be found and appreciated by a more general audience. His own ambivalence toward science, science fiction, religion and religious comfort comes through in every scene of this novel
Language
eng
Work
Instance
Label
Cat's cradle
Title
Cat's cradle
Statement of responsibility
Kurt Vonnegut
Title variation
Cats cradle
Creator
Contributor
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
Cat's Cradle (1963) is Vonnegut's most ambitious novel, which put into the language terms like "wampeter", "kerass" and "granfalloon" as well as a structured religion, Boskonism and was submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master's Degree in anthropology, and in its sprawling compass and almost uncontrolled (and uncontrollable) invention, may be Vonnegut's best novel. Written contemporaneously with the Cuban missile crisis and countenancing a version of a world in the grasp of magnified human stupidity, the novel is centered on Felix Hoenikker, a chemical scientist reminiscent of Robert Oppenheimer... except that Oppenheimer was destroyed by his conscience and Hoenikker, delighting in the disastrous chemicals he has invented, has no conscience at all. Hoenikker's "Ice 9" has the potential to convert all liquid to inert ice and thus destroy human existence; he is exiled to a remote island where Boskonism has enlisted all of its inhabitants and where religion and technology collaborate, with the help of a large cast of characters, to destroy civilization. Vonnegut's compassion and despair are expressed here through his grotesque elaboration of character and situation and also through his created religion which like Flannery O'Connor's "Church Without Christ" (in Wise Blood) acts to serve its adherents by removing them from individual responsibility. Vonnegut had always been taken seriously by science fiction readers and critics (a reception which indeed made him uncomfortable) but it was with Cat's Cradle that he began to be found and appreciated by a more general audience. His own ambivalence toward science, science fiction, religion and religious comfort comes through in every scene of this novel
Summary
A young writer decides to interview the children of a scientist primarily responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb
Storyline
Tone
Writing style
Character
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
060695
Cataloging source
Midwest
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Vonnegut, Kurt
Dewey number
813/.54
Index
no index present
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/lexile
790
Literary form
fiction
Nature of contents
dictionaries
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
hoopla digital
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
End of the world
Target audience
adult
Label
Cat's cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, (electronic resource)
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Color
multicolored
Control code
MWT11327566
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
Form of item
  • online
  • electronic
Governing access note
Digital content provided by hoopla
Isbn
9780795311963
Isbn Type
(electronic bk.)
Publisher number
MWT11327566
Specific material designation
remote
System details
Mode of access: World Wide Web
Label
Cat's cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, (electronic resource)
Link
Publication
Color
multicolored
Control code
MWT11327566
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
Form of item
  • online
  • electronic
Governing access note
Digital content provided by hoopla
Isbn
9780795311963
Isbn Type
(electronic bk.)
Publisher number
MWT11327566
Specific material designation
remote
System details
Mode of access: World Wide Web

Subject

Genre

Library Locations

  • Austin History Center Borrow it
    810 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX, 78701, US
    30.271703300000 -97.745890600000
  • Carver Branch Borrow it
    1161 Angelina St., Austin, TX, 78702, US
    30.2695584 -97.7240278
  • Central LibraryBorrow it
    710 W. Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX, 78701, US
    30.271302100000 -97.746016800000
  • Cepeda BranchBorrow it
    651 N. Pleasant Valley Rd., Austin, TX, 78702, US
    30.2590471 -97.7088905
  • Howson BranchBorrow it
    2500 Exposition Blvd., Austin, TX, 78703, US
    30.2982508 -97.7675915
  • Little Walnut Creek BranchBorrow it
    835 W. Rundberg Lane, Austin, TX, 78758, US
    30.3632362 -97.6984619
  • Manchaca Road Branch Borrow it
    5500 Manchaca Road, Austin, TX, 78745, US
    30.2166039 -97.79733689999999
  • Milwood BranchBorrow it
    12500 Amherst Dr, Austin, TX, 78727, US
    30.4223444 -97.7161692
  • North Village Branch Borrow it
    2505 Steck Ave, Austin, TX, 78757, US
    30.362144 -97.7305032
  • Old Quarry Branch Borrow it
    7051 Village Center Dr., Austin, TX, 78731, US
    30.3529975 -97.7551561
  • Pleasant Hill Branch Borrow it
    211 E. William Cannon Blvd., Austin, TX, 78745, US
    30.1922461 -97.7771661
  • Ruiz BranchBorrow it
    1600 Grove Blvd., Austin, TX, 78741, US
    30.2298616 -97.7070109
  • Southeast BranchBorrow it
    5803 Nuckols Crossing Rd., Austin, TX, 78744, US
    30.1876256 -97.7419319
  • Spicewood Springs Branch Borrow it
    8637 Spicewood Springs Rd., Austin, TX, 78759, US
    30.4337083 -97.7730809
  • St. John Branch Borrow it
    7500 Blessing Ave., Austin, TX, 78752, US
    30.3328231 -97.6937014
  • Terrazas Branch Borrow it
    1105 E. Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX, 78702, US
    30.2599154 -97.7334621
  • Twin Oaks Branch Borrow it
    1800 S. Fifth St., Austin, TX, 78704, US
    30.2486884 -97.76239749999999
  • University Hills BranchBorrow it
    4701 Loyola Ln., Austin, TX, 78723, US
    30.3093017 -97.6664785
  • Willie Mae Kirk Branch Borrow it
    3101 Oak Springs Dr., Austin, TX, 78723, US
    30.2729762 -97.699748
  • Windsor Park BranchBorrow it
    5833 Westminster Dr., Austin, TX, 78723, US
    30.3116523 -97.6902298
  • Yarborough BranchBorrow it
    2200 Hancock Dr., Austin, TX, 78756, US
    30.3234684 -97.74072129999999

Library Links

Structured data from the Bibframe namespace is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Austin Public Library. Additional terms may apply to data associated with third party namespaces.
Processing Feedback ...