Timeline Kurt Vonnegut

The life of Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007), the Indianapolis-born satirist who survived the firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war and wrote Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five.

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Dashed left edge = started before this timeline · Dashed right edge = still ongoing

Kurt Vonnegut 19

1922 Kurt Vonnegut born in Indianapolis Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is born in Indianapolis on Armistice Day, into a family of German-American architects and brewers.
1940 Vonnegut studies chemistry at Cornell Kurt Vonnegut studies biochemistry at Cornell and writes for the Cornell Daily Sun.
1943 Vonnegut joins the army Kurt Vonnegut leaves Cornell and enlists in the US Army.
1944 Vonnegut captured at the Battle of the Bulge Infantry scout Kurt Vonnegut is taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to work in Dresden.
1945 Vonnegut survives the bombing of Dresden Kurt Vonnegut and other prisoners shelter in a meat locker under a slaughterhouse as Allied bombers destroy Dresden.
1945 Vonnegut marries Jane Cox Back from the war, Kurt Vonnegut marries his childhood sweetheart Jane Marie Cox.
1947 Vonnegut joins General Electric Kurt Vonnegut works as a publicist for General Electric in Schenectady, New York, and starts selling short stories.
1952 Vonnegut publishes Player Piano Kurt Vonnegut's first novel imagines a future where machines have replaced workers, drawing on his years at GE.
1959 Vonnegut publishes The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut's second novel, a cosmic satire, appears as a paperback original.
1963 Vonnegut publishes Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut's novel about ice-nine and the religion of Bokononism becomes a campus favourite.
1965 Vonnegut teaches at the Iowa Writers' Workshop Kurt Vonnegut spends two years teaching at the University of Iowa, where he begins Slaughterhouse-Five.
1969 Vonnegut publishes Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut's anti-war novel of Billy Pilgrim, unstuck in time, and the firebombing of Dresden becomes a bestseller.
1971 Vonnegut earns his master's degree The University of Chicago accepts Cat's Cradle as Kurt Vonnegut's anthropology thesis, 25 years after he left.
1972 Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five filmed George Roy Hill's film of Kurt Vonnegut's novel wins the Jury Prize at Cannes.
1973 Vonnegut publishes Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut's novel, illustrated with his own felt-tip drawings, features his recurring character Kilgore Trout.
1985 Vonnegut publishes Galápagos Kurt Vonnegut's novel follows the last humans on the Galápagos Islands over a million years of evolution.
1997 Vonnegut publishes Timequake Kurt Vonnegut publishes Timequake, which he announces will be his last novel.
2005 Vonnegut publishes A Man Without a Country Kurt Vonnegut's late essay collection becomes a bestseller.
2007 Kurt Vonnegut dies in New York Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84, weeks after a fall at his home in Manhattan.