If this isn't nice, what is?
The Kurt Vonnegut API is a RESTful API built using Node.js, Express, MongoDB, and EJS. It was designed to serve metadata on Kurt Vonnegut's bibliography, currently returning information on his novels, collected works, and plays as JSON.
A RESTful API is simply computer code that uses HTTP to request services from a program running on another computer, often called a server. It allows anyone to access a partcular set of data using whatever computer language on whatever operating system. In this case, this API makes it really easy to get info on Kurt Vonnegut's bibliography. All you need is a URI to get the data.
https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api
This project is catered for programmers interested in integrating Kurt Vonnegut data into their own projects, or for academic researchers looking to use Kurt Vonnegut metadata in their Digital Humanities projects. Look in Usage for inspiration.
| Form | Metadata | Form | Metadata | Form | Metadata |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novels | title subtitle form genre publisher year pages chapters setting characters wiki |
Collected Works | title form genre publisher year pages contents wiki |
Plays | title form genre publisher year setting characters wiki |
/api/api/novels/api/collections/api/plays
You can currently only filter searches using the main /api route, using any combination of title, form, genre, and year seperated by an ampersand (&).
✅ https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api?title=Slaughterhouse-Five&year=1952
You can search using multiple filters separated by commas
✅ https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api?year=1952,1969
You cannot, however, use multiple filters and different filters at the same time.
❌ https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api?year1952,1969&title=Breakfast of Champions
You can use any http library to return a JSON array of the data.
Below is an example using Request, a Node.js package.
// Request
const request = require('request');
request({
url: 'https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api?title=Slaughterhouse-Five',
json: true
}, function (error, response, bibliography) {
console.log(bibliography)
});
// Output
[
{
_id: '5f07523011807ba43fb805b0',
title: 'Slaughterhouse-Five',
subtitle: "The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death",
form: 'novel',
genre: [
'dark comedy',
'satire',
'science fiction',
'war novel',
'metafiction',
'postmodernism'
],
publisher: 'Delacorte',
year: 1969,
pages: 215,
chapters: 10,
setting: [ [Object], [Object], [Object], [Object] ],
characters: [
[Object], [Object],
[Object], [Object],
[Object], [Object],
[Object], [Object],
[Object], [Object],
[Object], [Object],
[Object]
],
wiki: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five'
}
]
// Note that arrays containing objects are returned as [Object]
// Use object and array notation to access
bibliography[0].characters[0];
/*
{
firstName: 'Billy',
lastName: 'Pilgrim'
}
*/
bibilography[0].setting[0];
/*
{
city: 'Dresden',
country: 'Germany',
fictional: false
}
*/Some of the metadata may be useful for textual analysis. In particular, bibliography[i].characters and bibliography[i].setting
// Appearances of Kilgore Trout across various novels
request({
url: 'https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api/novels',
json: true
}, function (error, response, bibliography) {
let kilgoreTroutAppearances = [];
for (let i = 0; i < bibliography.length; i++) {
for (let j = 0; j < bibliography[i].characters.length; j++) {
if (bibliography[i].characters[j].firstName === "Kilgore" && bibliography[i].characters[j].lastName === "Trout") {
kilgoreTroutAppearances.push(bibliography[i])
}
}
}
console.log(kilgoreTroutAppearances)
});
/*
[
{
_id: '5f07523011807ba43fb805ab',
title: 'God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater',
subtitle: 'Pearls Before Swine',
form: 'novel',
genre: [ 'satire', 'postmodernism' ],
publisher: 'Holt, Rinehart and Winston',
year: 1965,
pages: 218,
chapters: null,
setting: [ [Object], [Object] ],
characters: [ [Object], [Object], [Object] ],
wiki: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_You,_Mr._Rosewater'
},
{
...
}
]
*/Requests, an HTTP library for Python, gives you a simple method for returning data
# returns JSON array
import requests
response = requests.get('https://kurtvonnegutapi.com/api?title=Slaughterhouse-Five')
print(response.json())
# output
"""
[{'_id': '5f07523011807ba43fb805b0', 'title':
'Slaughterhouse-Five', 'subtitle': "the Children's
Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death", 'form': 'novel',
'genre': ['dark comedy', 'satire', 'science fiction',
'war novel', 'metafiction', 'postmodernism'],
'publisher': 'Delacorte', 'year': 1969, 'pages': 215,
'chapters': 10, 'setting': [{'city': 'Dresden',
'country': 'Germany', 'fictional': False}, {'planet':
'Tralfamadore', 'fictional': True}, {'city': 'Ilium',
'state': 'New York', 'country': 'United States of
America', 'fictional': False}, {'city': 'Ardennes',
'country': 'Belgium', 'fictional': False}],
'characters': [{'firstName': 'Billy', 'lastName':
'Pilgrim'}, {'firstName': 'Kilgore', 'lastName':
'Trout'}, {'firstName': 'Eliot', 'lastName':
'Rosewater'}, {'firstName': 'Roland', 'lastName':
'Weary'}, {'firstName': 'Paul', 'lastName': 'Lazzaro'}
, {'firstName': 'Edgar', 'lastName': 'Derby'},
{'firstName': 'Robert', 'lastName': 'Pilgrim'},
{'firstName': 'Valencia', 'lastName': 'Merble'},
{'firstName': 'Barbara', 'lastName': 'Pilgrim'},
{'firstName': 'Howard', 'middleName': 'W', 'lastName':
'Campbell', 'suffix': 'Jr'}, {'firstName': 'Montana',
'lastName': 'Wildhack'}, {'firstName': 'Bertam',
'middleName': 'Copeland', 'lastName': 'Rumfoord'},
{'firstName': 'Wild Bob'}], 'wiki': 'https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five'}]
"""Contributions are always welcome. I have a particular interest in expanding the API's data set of narrative elements. Currently, the API returns calls for characters and setting. I am interested in ideas for other narrative elements like themes, points of view, conflicts, etc.
If you have any ideas or issues you would like to discuss, feel free to contact me at kurtvonnegutapi@gmail.com.
When making a pull request, please clearly describe the problem and solution.
First time creating an API. Combed GitHub for inspiration. These projects were an immense help.
BSD-3-Clause License © Tyler Jones