| 1848 |
Clemens
Vonnegut, Sr. immigrates to North America. |
| 1913 |
November
22. Kurt Vonnegut and Edith Lieber, the parents
of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., marry in Indianapolis, IN. |
| 1914 |
Bernard
Vonnegut, brother, born. |
| 1917 |
Alice
Vonnegut, sister, born. |
| 1922 |
November
11. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. born in Indianapolis.
|
1928
-1936 |
Attends
Orchard School, Indianapolis. |
1936
-1940 |
Attends
Shortridge High School. Contributes to the Shortridge
Daily Echo, a student daily newspaper as reporter,
columnist, and editor. |
| 1940 |
Enrolls
at Cornell University as a biochemistry major. Contributes
to the Cornell Sun as managing editor and columnist. |
| 1943 |
March.
Enlists in United States Army. Sent to Carnegie
Institute and University of Tennessee for training
in mechanical engineering. |
| 1944 |
May
14. Edith Lieber Vonnegut, mother, commits suicide.
December 22. Vonnegut captured during the
Battle of the Bulge while a battalion scout with
the 106 Infantry Division. |
| 1945 |
February
13. Dresden, Germany bombed killing 135,000
citizens. Vonnegut and fellow Allied POWs take shelter
in an underground meatlocker, the basis of Slaughterhouse-Five.
April. Soviet troops occupy Dresden.
May 22. Vonnegut released to return to the
U.S. Awarded the Purple Heart.
August 6. U.S. bombs Hiroshima with the planet's
first display of atomic weapons killing 71,379 people.
September 1. Marries high school classmate
Jane Marie Cox whom he first met in kindergarten.
December. Enrolls in University of Chicago's
M.A. program in anthropolgy. Works as a reporter
for the Chicago City News Bureau. |
| 1946 |
M.A.
thesis ''On the Fluctuations between Good and Evil
in Simple Tales'' is unanimously rejected by the
anthropology faculty. |
| 1947 |
Takes
job at the General Electric Company Research Laboratory,
Schenectady, NY, as a public relations writer.
Brother Bernard is a G.E. research scientist.
Son Mark born. |
| 1949 |
Daughter
Edith born. |
| 1950 |
February
11. First short story, ''Report on the Barnhouse
Effect'' published in Collier's. |
| 1951 |
Quits
G.E. and moves to Provincetown, MA (later West Barnstable,
MA) to write full-time |
| 1952 |
First
novel, Player
Piano, published by Charles Scribner's Sons,
New York. Published in Canada by S.J. Reginald Sauners,
Toronto. |
| 1953 |
First
book club selection when Player Piano is
distributed by Doubleday Science Fiction Book Club.
The novel is first published outside North America
by Macmillan, London. |
| 1954 |
First
reprint when Player Piano is reissued as
Utopia 14. Attempts a variety of jobs to
bolster family income including teaching at Hopefield
School, writing advertising copy and opening the
second Saab dealership in the U.S.
Daughter Nanette born. |
| 1957 |
October
1. Kurt Vonnegut, Sr dies. |
| 1958 |
Alice
Vonnegut succumbs to cancer within 24 hours of her
husband John Adams being killed in a train crash.
Kurt and Jane Vonnegut adopt three of John and Alice's
children (Tiger, Jim, and Steven).
October 5. ''Auf Wiedersehen,'' a television drama
based on Vonnegut's ''D.P.,'' broadcast by CBS. |
| 1959 |
The
Siren of Titans is published in paperback
by Dell. |
| 1961 |
A
number of previously printed short stories are collected
and published by Fawcett as Canary in a Cat House.
The Sirens of Titan reissued in hardcover. |
| 1962 |
Mother
Night published in paperback by Fawcett.
The Sirens of Titan translated into French
by Monique Theis. Published by DeNoël, Paris as
Les Sirène de Titan. |
| 1963 |
Cat's
Cradle published in hardcover by Holt, Rinehart
& Winston. The book is quietly admired by a
small number of influential writers. It is reviewed
in the New York Times Book Review and the
Spectator. |
| 1964 |
Player
Piano translated into German by Wulf H. Bergner
as Das Höllische System. Published by Heyne,
Munich. |
| 1965 |
March.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,
his first widely reviewed book, is published by
Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Accepts appointment in the University of Iowa's
Writer's Workshop.
Writes first review for New York Times.
The Sirens of Titan translated into Italian
by Roberta Rambelli. Published by Piacenza, Rome
as Le Sirene di Titano. |
| 1966 |
New
Republic publishes C.D.B. Bryan's survey of
Vonnegut texts. Though factually flawed, the piece
captured Vonnegut's prior, largely unnoticed writings,
for a national readership arguing they were the
work of a serious young writer.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater translated into
Spanish by Amparo García Burgos. Published by Grijalbo,
Barcelona as Dios Le Bendiga, Mr. Rosewater. |
| 1967 |
Awarded
Guggenheim Fellowship allowing time in Dresden to
research Slaughterhouse-Five.
Signs three book contract with Delacorte Press/Seymour
Lawrence. The publisher reprints novels in hardcover.
First academic study of Vonnegut in the chapter
''Fabulation and Satire'' by Robert Scholes published
in The Fabulators.
Player Piano translated into Russian by M.
Bruhnov. Published by Molodaya gvardiya, Moscow
as Utopija 14. |
| 1968 |
August.
Welcome to the Monkey House,
a collection of previously published short fiction,
published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence.
Cat's Cradle translated into Japanese by
Itô Norio. Published by Hayakawa Shobô as Neko
No Yurikago. |
| 1969 |
March.
Slaughterhouse-Five,
published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence, catapults
Vonnegut to national prominence. Hits number 1 on
the New York Times Best Seller list. |
| 1970 |
January.
Travels to Biafra just before its collapse in a
Nigerian civil war.
Awarded a National Institute of Arts and Letters
grant.
Appointed to teach creative writing, Harvard University.
October 7. ''Happy
Birthday, Wanda June'' opens in New York running
through March 14, 1971. Published by Delacorte/Seymour
Lawrence. |
| 1971 |
Awarded
M.A. by the University
of Chicago in recognition for Cat's Cradle's
contribution to the field of cultural anthropology.
Separates from Jane Marie Vonnegut.
Moves alone to New York. |
| 1972 |
March
13. ''Between Time & Timbuktu'' broadcast
on PBS.
George Roy Hill's feature film ''Slaughterhouse-Five''
released nationwide.
Elected Vice President of P.E.N. American Center.
Elected member of the National Institute of Arts
and Letters.
First academic book-length study of Vonnegut published
as Peter J. Reed's Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Son Mark suffers emotional collapse. |
| 1973 |
May.
Breakfast of Champions
published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence. Wildly
successful as a commercial release the novel's critical
reviewers are largely disappointed.
Awarded honorary LHD by Indiana University.
Succeeds Anthony Burgess as Distinguished Professor
of English Prose at City University of New York. |
| 1974 |
February
22. Resigns position at City University of New
York.
Wampeters,
Foma & Granfalloons, a collection of
essays, reviews, and such, is published by Delacorte/Seymour
Lawrence.
Receives honorary Litt.D by Hobart and William Smith
College. |
| 1975 |
Elected
Vice President of the National Institute of Arts
and Letters.
Mark Vonnegut's Eden Express
published by Praeger Publishers. |
| 1976 |
Slapstick;
or Lonesome No More, published by Delacorte/Seymour
Lawrence, is widely reviewed with hostility. Begins
to identify himself as simply ''Kurt Vonnegut.'' |
| 1977 |
First
grandchild, Zachary, born to Mark's family. |
| 1979 |
Jailbird
published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence.
October 11. Edith Vonnegut's production of the musical
adaptation of ''God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater'' premieres
at New York's Entermedia Theatre.
November 24. Marries author and photographer
Jill Krementz. |
| 1980 |
Sun
Moon Star, a children's Christmas story with
illustrations by Ivan Chermayeff, published by Harper
& Row. |
| 1981 |
Palm
Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage, a collection
of essays, reviews, and such with connective commentary,
is published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence. |
| 1982 |
Deadeye
Dick is published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence.
February 2. ''Who
Am I This Time?'' adapted from the Vonnegut short
story televised nationally on American Playhouse.
December 15. Lily Vonnegut born. |
| 1985 |
Galápagos
published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence.
Attempts suicide by a combination of sleeping pills
and alcohol. |
| 1987 |
Bluebeard
published by Delacorte. Many major publications
including Newsweek, New Yorker, New
York Review of Books, and the Times Literary
Supplement choose not to review it.
Jane Vonnegut Yarmolinsky's Angels without Wings
published by Houghton Mifflin. |
| 1990 |
Hocus
Pocus published by Putnam. |
| 1991 |
Fates
Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage of
the 1980's published by Putnam.
May 12. Showtime broadcasts ''Kurt
Vonnegut's Monkey House,'' adaptations of his
short stories.
June. Vonnegut and Krementz file for divorce.
The petition is later withdrawn. |
| 1996 |
Robert
B. Weide's adaptation of ''Mother
Night'' is released nationwide by Fine Line
Features.
Adapted for stage, ''Slaughterhouse-Five,''
premieres at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company |
| 1997 |
Said
to be Vonnegut's ''final'' novel, Timequake
published by Putnam.
April 25. Brother Bernard Vonnegut dies. |
| 1999 |
The
film ''Breakfast of
Champions'' is distributed in limited release.
Previously uncollected fiction from Vonnegut's
1950's efforts, Bagombo
Snuff Box published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Cobbled from Vonnegut's after-life reflective
quips on WNYC, God
Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian published by
Seven Stories Press.
|
| 2000 |
January.
Hospitalized for smoke inhallation following a
small house fire.
September. Teaches advanced writing at
Smith College.
November. Named State Author for New York.
|
