''Timequake'' is a 1997 semi-

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

work by

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

. Marketed as a novel, the book was described as a "stew" by Vonnegut, in which he summarizes a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

he had been struggling with for a number of years.

Plot summary

Vonnegut uses the premise of a timequake (or repetition of actions) in which there is no

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

. The idea of

determinism Determinism is the Metaphysics, metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes ov ...

is explored—as it is in many of his previous works—to assert that people really have no free will.

Kilgore Trout Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007). Trout is a notably unsuccessful author of paperback science fiction novels. "Trout" was inspired by the name of the author Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985), Vo ...

serves again as the main character, who the author declares as having died in 2001, at the fictitious Xanadu retreat in

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. Vonnegut explains in the beginning of the book that he was not satisfied with the original version of ''Timequake'' he wrote (or ''Timequake One''). Taking parts of ''Timequake One'' and combining it with personal thoughts and anecdotes produced the finished product, so-called ''Timequake Two''. Many of the anecdotes deal with Vonnegut's family, the death of loved ones, and people's last words. The plot, while centered on Trout, is also a sort of ramble in which Vonnegut relays tangents to the plot and comes back dozens of pages later: the timequake has thrust citizens of the year 2001 back in time to 1991 to repeat every action they undertook during that time. Most of the small stories in the book expound on the depression and sadness wrought by watching oneself make bad choices: people watch their parents die again, drive drunk or cause accidents that severely injure others. At the end of the timequake, when people resume control, they are depressed and gripped by

ennui In conventional usage, boredom, , or tedium is an emotion characterized by uninterest in one's surrounding, often caused by a lack of distractions or occupations. Although, "There is no universally accepted definition of boredom. But whatever ...

. Kilgore Trout is the only one not affected by the apathy, and thus helps revive others by telling them, "You were sick, but now you're well, and there's work to do." In the conclusion of this book, a fictionalized Vonnegut (who has inserted himself into the text, something he also did in ''

Breakfast of Champions ''Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday'' is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. His seventh novel, it is set predominantly in the fictional town of Midland City, Ohio, and focuses on two characters: Dwayne Hoover, a Mid ...

'' and, to a lesser degree, in ''

Slaughterhouse-Five ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his ...

'') meets other authors for a celebration of Trout. The celebration, described as a " clambake," is heavily foreshadowed throughout the novel's previous chapters.

Style

The novel is divided into 63 chapters, seemingly arbitrarily. A new chapter rarely offers any sort of "break" with a previous one; in most cases a thought which was being discussed at the conclusion of the previous chapter continues uninterrupted in the next; chapter breaks are thus used no differently from paragraph breaks. ''Timequake'', like many Vonnegut works, features a large number of double-spaced paragraph breaks and triple

asterisk The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

s within each chapter, creating a constant sense of the author pausing between paragraphs. Though his tone is largely cynical throughout ''Timequake'', Vonnegut frequently makes use of various light-hearted sayings, such as "Hold on to your hats!" or "Get a load of this!" when segueing between ideas. Several phrases are likewise continually repeated, such as "ting-a-ling" and "he's up in heaven now."

References

External links

{{Vonnegut 1997 American novels American autobiographical novels Novels about time travel Novels by Kurt Vonnegut Postmodern novels