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Tralfamadore

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Tralfamadore is the name of a fictional planet appearing in the novels of Kurt Vonnegut in inconsistently described variations.[1] It is variously depicted as being located elsewhere in the universe, in a parallel universe, or being fictional within the fiction itself.[2]

Appearances

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  • In the 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan, Tralfamadore is a planet in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the home of a civilization of machines, who had long ago superseeded their organic builders when those let themselves be exterminated for having no discernible higher purpose.[1][3][4] A central plot revolves around a Tralfamadorian messenger "stranded on Titan" who takes "control of human history in order to transmit a message home requesting a spare part for his spaceship."[3][1]
  • In Vonnegut's 1965 novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Tralfamadore appears "as a creation of science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout", a recurring character in Vonnegut's works, and is presented as "a resolution of human problems".[2] The protagonist Eliot Rosewater pronounces the planet to be located in the "Anti-matter Galaxy 508 G".[5]
  • In the 1969 novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Tralfamadore is the home to organic beings who can see into all times, and are thus privy to knowledge of future events.[3][6] Lawrence R. Broer described both them and their counterparts from Sirens as "ludicrous-looking".[7] Science-fiction scholar Brian Stableford suggested that Tralfamadore here exists in a different fictional universe than the planet referred to in Sirens of Titan, but where the original organic inhabitants have not died out.[3] Protagonist Billy Pilgrim, dealing with the trauma from experiencing the bombing of Dresden, relates how he is kidnapped by Tralfamadorians, leaving ambiguous if the planet exists in the novel or just in the character's imagination.[3][8] In a similar role to God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Tralfamadore for Pilgrim is a place "where the problematic aspects of his earthly existence are all nicely resolved."[2] Lawrence R. Broer observed that "Tralfamadore" is an anagram for "Or Fatal Dream", which is fitting as its inhabitants follow fatalistic ideas that guide Billy Pilgrim down into "his schizophrenic descent into madness".[7]
  • In the 1990 book Hocus Pocus, Tralfamadore appears again in a fiction within the fiction, published in a pornographic magazine. In a parallel to The Sirens of Titan, the Tralfamadorians disrupt the history of humankind again, here in favor of bacteria which they view as more valuable. Salman Rushdie remarked that this has the effect that "it makes a person feel pretty darn small".[9][4]
  • In the 1997 novel Timequake, Tralfamadore is mentioned as a fantastical meeting place of anthropomorphized chemical elements,[10][4] who, like the Tralfamadorians from other works, were "higher level beings" and happier than humans,[11] considering them a "peerlessly cruel and oafish species".[10]

Analysis

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A recurring characteristic of the inhabitants of Tralfamadore is their low esteem of humanity.[3][9][10] Brian Stableford, considering the examples of Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five, described the different Tralfamadorian races themselves as "tiny-minded smartasses" rendered impotent by their fatalistic worldview.[3] Vonnegut scholar Julia A. Whitehead saw the overall concept of Tralfamadore throughout the author's work as in "many ways [...] his own Eden", an escapist imagined home of happier beings. In her view the presentation of the Tralfamadorians with their deeper insights into "the science of nature [...] was Vonnegut's way of telling readers that humans don't know enough about each other and other life forms."[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Leeds, Marc (25 October 2016). "Tralfamadore, Tralfamadorian". The Vonnegut Encyclopedia. Random House Publishing. pp. 615–617. ISBN 9780804179928.
  2. ^ a b c Klinkowitz, Jerome (2009). "Speaking Personally: Slaughterhouse-Five and the Essays". In Bloom, Harold (ed.). Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Infobase Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-60413-585-5.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Stableford, Brian (1999). "Tralfamadore". The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places. Wonderland Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-684-84958-4.
  4. ^ a b c Clute, John (2023-09-25). "Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
  5. ^ Shields, Charles J. (2011). "Cultural Bureaucrat, 1971–1974". And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life. Henry Holt and Company. p. 298. ISBN 9781429973793.
  6. ^ Allen, William Rodney (2009). "Slaughterhouse-Five". In Bloom, Harold (ed.). Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Infobase Publishing. pp. 1, 11. ISBN 978-1-60413-585-5.
  7. ^ a b Boer, Lawrence R. (2009). "Slaughterhouse-Five: Pilgrim's Progress". In Bloom, Harold (ed.). Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Infobase Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-60413-585-5.
  8. ^ Breinig, Helbrecht (1984). Satire und Roman [Satire and novel] (in German). Gunter Narr. pp. 351–354. ISBN 9783878084815.
  9. ^ a b Rushdie, Salman (1990). "Kurt Vonnegut". Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991. Granta Books. pp. 358–361.
  10. ^ a b c McMahon, Gary (2009). Kurt Vonnegut and the Centrifugal Force of Fate. McFarland & Company. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0786439939.
  11. ^ a b Whitehead, Julia A. (2022). Breaking Down Vonnegut. Wiley. p. 84. ISBN 9781119746096.
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