Vonnegut Abducted?

I just finished Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons; the nonfiction collection of Kurt Vonnegut's heyday in the '60s and early '70s. The last segment is the Playboy interview I never knew about. On page 262 he reveals that neither he nor any of his fellow POWs in Dresden had any memory of the actual firebombing (utter devastation). Though he wouldn't have described it as such, it's as though it was a missing time experience. Ring a bell?

What if the Tralfamadorians of Slaughterhouse Five were really a reflection of Kurt's unconscious awareness of a real abduction? If so, it was definitely a mass abduction, since a number of his buddies couldn't remember anything; including those who "didn't want to talk about it."

This of course is assuming it wasn't an ordinary case of denial of/lying about terror of the magitude of soiling one's self or blubbering or screaming like a baby. If so, man, those guys were/are the quintessential macho liars to the bitter end.

Is it possible that the staunchest atheistic doubter of alien abduction "mumbo jumbo" like Vonnegut could simply have had a stronger erasure/suppression mechanism of the same experiences the ones he would call the "crazies" have had? Here's why I want to believe that's true: Beings of a decidely higher moral plane than ours should be most interested in those of us who have the fundamentals of what constitutes a suffiently-enlightened civilization down pat before anything else regarding the unexplained or "miraculous" becomes part of their/our vocabulary, if it ever does. Vonnegut had the spirit of the teachings of one of his professors regarding the "folk society." He spoke the truth about the perils of a greed-and-slavery-based system. Period. He was a righteous man. There's no denying his great love and compassion, despite the pessimism and misanthropy... and his tendency to be plain vulgar or insulting... and his denial of the unexplained. Twain/Clemens would've loved him.

Wondering if there are any of Vonnegut's Dresden comrades (or anyone else in the city at the time) who can possibly corroberate the missing time theory... True, it's probably more likely that standard psychological mechanisms alone were responsible for the multiple blockages of such a hugely traumatic event, but it's similarity to missing time in the more credible abduction reports is worth exploring, IMO.

i dont think Kurt Vonnegut had anything to do with abductions, simply because, if that was the case, he is the first person that would admit it, and then write 5 books about the experience

no, he is just a very talented writer, a smart man, and a total psycho. but, after all, isnt that what makes a true artist?

so, as far as some sort of disclosure is concerned, i think that vonnegut would be on the front lines with the rest of us.

It is common for people in terribly traumatic conditions to black out the memories. It is also something that can happen with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I suppose anything is possible; however, the simplest answer is usually the correct one, and PTSD is simpler than alien abduction.

In Slaghter House 5, Vonnegut does say he was abducted, or rather that the charecter was. Since this work is highly biographical, I would say he may have indeed been abducted.

well that was an enjoyable read and like MM said anything is possible..

on the other hand im going to agree with nightsider2007. vonnegut was a genius but to say he was abducted is stretching it a little bit


RIP

stephen king writes a lot about ETs as well.. i've read 2 king books (tommy knockers and dreamcatcher) that have greys involved in the story but i dont think he was ever abducted

Abducted along with hundreds of other GI's
during/subsequent to The Ardennes Offensive? Meh.
If he'd had any kind of black out, I reckon it
was due to exhaustion and hunger (as per
Pilgrim's experience). The man was a POW in a
country starving, by XMas 1945
(his novel "Mother Night" is intelligently
adapted into a feature starring Nick Nolte--a
very good adaptation).

Not that I've got any firm clue, but my hunch
is that his interest in science fiction may have been
some kind of escapism, after seeing the worst that mankind can
do to itself.

OP -- Excellent post! Ding.