exoteric

The cover of Slaughterhouse Five side by side.
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The Candles and the Soap: On Vonnegut, Death, and Repetition

Placed after a mention of death or dying, Kurt Vonnegut’s “So it goes” refrain throughout Slaughterhouse Five utilizes repetition to explore the inevitability of death. Early on in the book, Billy Pilgrim writes a letter to a newspaper about his experiences with extra terrestrials, and explains the origin of the phrase: When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all…