The Anti-hero and the Anxiety of Authorship in Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions

Abstract

This chapter inspects the anxiety of authorship that is manifested through the character of Trout
in Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions (1973). It demonstrates how the author struggles in an
American society that is totally submissive to the capitalistic system. Such inspection is
highlighted through anti-heroes Trout and Dwayne: each of them stands for a specific aspect
that aims at criticizing the condition of the American life. The study relies for its theoretical
framework on Michel Foucault and Roland Barthes’ theorizations concerning authors and
authorship. Their arguments will be used to help us understand the anxiety that the writer
undergoes in Breakfast of Champions. Vonnegut projects his anxiety as a writer through the
character of Trout. The author’s anxiety concerns his influence on society and whether he will
make a room for himself in the canon.