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A review by kevin_shepherd
The Writer's Crusade: Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-Five by Tom Roston
4.0
“How nice—to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive.”
Is Slaughterhouse Five less a work of pure science fiction and more of an autobiographical expression of post traumatic stress? Tom Roston’s reexamination of Vonnegut’s best known book makes a fairly strong case for the presence of PTSD.
This is not a hard sell. Vonnegut survived the fire-bombing of Dresden for christ’s sake—how could any rational human being with an iota of compassion not respond negatively to the mass incineration of women and children? How could memories like that not manifest themselves through a person’s creative articulations? Roston is a very good writer and I highly recommend his book, but one does not necessarily need to be inordinately persuasive when pointing out the elephant in the room.
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On a personal note, shouldn’t we drop the D from PTSD? The question isn’t why do soldiers suffer psychological fallout from their war experiences but rather, why doesn’t EVERY combat veteran exhibit some form of depression, detachment or guilt? Maybe it’s those who come away from the atrocities of war without some form of psychological baggage that should be scrutinized (imho). Having post-traumatic stress is the rule rather than the exception. Let’s eliminate the stigma.
Is Slaughterhouse Five less a work of pure science fiction and more of an autobiographical expression of post traumatic stress? Tom Roston’s reexamination of Vonnegut’s best known book makes a fairly strong case for the presence of PTSD.
This is not a hard sell. Vonnegut survived the fire-bombing of Dresden for christ’s sake—how could any rational human being with an iota of compassion not respond negatively to the mass incineration of women and children? How could memories like that not manifest themselves through a person’s creative articulations? Roston is a very good writer and I highly recommend his book, but one does not necessarily need to be inordinately persuasive when pointing out the elephant in the room.
__________________________________
On a personal note, shouldn’t we drop the D from PTSD? The question isn’t why do soldiers suffer psychological fallout from their war experiences but rather, why doesn’t EVERY combat veteran exhibit some form of depression, detachment or guilt? Maybe it’s those who come away from the atrocities of war without some form of psychological baggage that should be scrutinized (imho). Having post-traumatic stress is the rule rather than the exception. Let’s eliminate the stigma.