Synopses & Reviews
Edited by Jerome Klinkowitz and Dan Wakefield
Foreword by Dave Eggers
Here for the first time is the complete short fiction of one of the 20th century's greatest writers. More than half of Vonnegut's output was short fiction, and never before has the world had occasion to wrestle with it all together. Organized thematically — "War," "Women," "Science," "Romance," "Work Ethic v. Fame and Fortune," "Behavior," "The Band Director" (those stories featuring Lincoln High's band director and nice guy, George Hemholtz), and "Futuristic"— these 97 stories were written over a lifetime, from 1941 to 2007, and include those published during Vonnegut's lifetime in magazines and collected in Welcome to the Monkey House, Bagombo Snuff Box, and other books; those published posthumously; and, here for the first time, five previously unpublished stories as well as a handful of others that were published online only and read by few. Vonnegut published only about half of the stories he wrote, his agent telling him in 1958 upon the rejection of a particularly strong story, "Save it for the collection of your works which will be published someday when you become famous. Which may take a little time."
Selected and introduced by longtime Vonnegut friends and scholars Dan Wakefield and Jerome Klinkowitz, The Complete Stories puts Vonnegut's great wit, humor, and humanity on full display. An extraordinary literary feast for new readers, Vonnegut fans, and scholars alike.
Review
“Readers treasured Vonnegut's literary imagination not just for his stance on politics and economics, but his masterful storytelling, his inimitable wit, and his humanistic compassion. Binding these literary qualities together with his political outlook makes him relevant more than ever today.” Wilson Taylor and Matthew Gannon, Jacobin
Review
“This collection pulses with relevance.. and provides an almost shameful amount of unadulterated reading pleasure. The prose is clean and the pace always brisk, and the satisfaction we draw from seeing some moral clarity, some linear order brought to a knotted world, is impossible to overstate.” Dave Eggers, from the foreword
Review
“This book is big in size and significance....Meant to get readers thinking, these stories both preserve a lost world and showcase Vonnegut’s phenomenal prescience. In his foreword, Dave Eggers pinpoints another key trait: Vonnegut wrote “moral stories” meant to “tell us what’s right and what’s wrong, and...how to live.” In our time of dangerous ambiguity, Vonnegut’s clarity is restorative, his artistry and imagination affirming.” Booklist
Synopsis
Here for the first time is the complete short fiction of one of the twentieth century's foremost imaginative geniuses. More than half of Vonnegut's output was short fiction, and never before has the world had occasion to wrestle with it all together. Organized thematically--"War," "Women," "Science," "Romance," "Work Ethic versus Fame and Fortune," "Behavior," "The Band Director" (those stories featuring Lincoln High's band director and nice guy George Hemholtz), and "Futuristic"--these ninety-eight stories were written from 1941 to 2007, and include those Vonnegut published in magazines and collected in
Welcome to the Monkey House,
Bagombo Snuff Box, and other books; here for the first time five previously unpublished stories; as well as a handful of others that were published online and read by few. During his lifetime Vonnegut published fewer than half of the stories he wrote, his agent telling him in 1958 upon the rejection of a particularly strong story, "Save it for the collection of your works which will be published someday when you become famous. Which may take a little time."
Selected and introduced by longtime Vonnegut friends and scholars Dan Wakefield and Jerome Klinkowitz, Complete Stories puts Vonnegut's great wit, humor, humanity, and artistry on full display. An extraordinary literary feast for new readers, Vonnegut fans, and scholars alike.
About the Author
Born in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Kurt Vonnegut was one of the few grandmasters of modern American letters. Called “the counterculture’s novelist” by The New York Times, his works guided a generation through the miasma of war and greed that was life in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century. After stints as a soldier, anthropology PhD candidate, technical writer for General Electric, and salesman at a Saab dealership, Vonnegut rose to prominence with the publication of Cat’s Cradle in 1963. Several modern classics, including Slaughterhouse-Five, soon followed. Never quite embraced by the stodgier arbiters of literary taste, Vonnegut was nonetheless beloved by millions of readers throughout the world. “Given who and what I am,” he once said, “it has been presumptuous of me to write so well.” Kurt Vonnegut died in New York in 2007.
Kurt Vonnegut on PowellsBooks.Blog
Ours was the last large group of freed American P.O.W.s to go through Camp Lucky Strike, near Le Havre, on our way home. There were no formations to make after we got a clothing issue and partial pay, so we divided our time between eating, sleeping, and drinking eggnogs at the Red Cross Club. It was a hot afternoon and I was half-asleep when Jones came in...
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