The Sirens of Titan :: Sirens of Titan Essays

The Sirens of Titan Marek Vit "It took us that long to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved." (Vonnegut:220) The Sirens of Titan is Kurt Vonnegut's second novel. He has written it in 1959, seven years after his previous Player Piano. It has been described as a pure science fiction novel and, after only one reading, it really can be considered to be one. The intricate plot and fascinating detail may obscure the serious intent of the novel. If compared to other novels by this author, it makes much smoother reading because there are much fewer subplots, digressions and simultaneous developments. The storyline of Sirens of Titan is much more straightforward than in the other works (e.g. Slaughterhouse-Five, Galapagos, Hocus Pocus, Breakfast of Champions etc.) "The Sirens of Titan, for all its wonderings, futurity and concern with larger, abstract questions, transmits a greater sense of direction and concreteness. Rather surprising, too, is the fact that the novel with its science fiction orientation, with its robots and near-robot humans, and with its several central characters who are intentionally presented as being rather cold-hearted, generates more human warmth than Player Piano which is directly concerned with the agonies of exploring and following conscience, emotion and love. Three possible explanations for this fenomenon present themselves: first, Vonnegut's skill has grown in the intervening seven years; second, the science fiction mode affords the author more detachment, and he is less didactic in this work; third, the positive forces, particularly love, carry more weight." (Reed:66) The Sirens of Titan has been, as many other Vonnegut's books, influenced by his experiences from World War Two (The Fire-bombing of Dresden was a benefit just to one man, to Kurt Vonnegut. Over the years, he got five dollars for each corpse, as