TITLE:
Spatio-Temporal Hauntings and the Catastrophic Mourning in Slaughterhouse-Five
AUTHORS:
Jianfeng Chen
KEYWORDS:
Hauntology, Mourning, Spectrality, Catastrophe, Slaughterhouse-Five
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Literary Study,
Vol.14 No.4,
August
28,
2026
ABSTRACT: This paper employs hauntology as a theoretical lens to explore spatio-temporal hauntings and catastrophic mourning in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. It first analyzes temporal hauntings manifested in Billy Pilgrim’s “time spasm” (a trauma-informed analogy to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]) and survivor’s guilt, then examines spatial hauntings embodied in spectral spaces like the crypt of Dresden’s repressed memory, moon-like ruins, and the liminal shady street. The study highlights Vonnegut’s innovative expansion of science fiction, which he adapts as a sense-making tool to depict war trauma through nonlinear, fragmented narratives and spectral devices like re-corporealization of revenants. Ultimately, the paper argues that the novel responds to Derrida’s mandate to “learn to live with ghosts”, subverting ideological interdiction and the interdiction of catastrophic mourning via spectral writing and reading, while honoring disavowed war victims and forging a just, active relationship with history to exorcise repressed specters.