Historiographic metafiction in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's cradle and slaughterhouse five

Use of history, historical figures and accounts in literature may be traced back to the very ancient times of literature. Many of the nations that claim to have a traditional heritage of literary history begin analysing their researches on the roots of their literature by taking some works that deal with historical events or personage. We see that the historical literature which was undoubtedly very popular in the antiquity is still very popular and may be even more at present. Especially since the second half of the 20th century, history and historical writing has been seen as integral parts of the world of literature and literary critic and there emerged new approaches on analysing this matter. This study aims to analyse the concept of historiographic metafiction, its historical background together with its current practices on contemporary literature. Moreover, this study reveals the similarities and differences between the historical fiction which is seen as the traditional way of dealing with history and historical figures in literature and the historiographic metafiction that presents a new and authentic overview on the history. Presenting a thorough analysis on Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Cat's Cradle (1963) and Slaughterhouse Five (1969) along with the theoretical background on historiographic metafiction, this study aims to highlight the reinterpretation of history and the concept of reality or truth by using the historiographic metafiction.