Since 1950, when his short stories first appeared, Kurt Vonnegut has published almost 50 short stories, 13 novels, two plays, and a teleplay. He has remained one of the shrewdest commentators-and often harshest critics-of American society, challenging the complacency of the Eisenhower years, watching the Kennedy's with admiration, and disliking Nixon. He has remained one of the most important chroniclers of American life, his message often foreboding though rarely gloomy. Yet he occupies an ambiguous place in American letters. The 14 essays in this collection seek to chronicle Vonnegut's career as it moves through changing times.The volume opens with a chronology of Vonnegut's life and three interviews with him. The essays consider his career, combining interest and readability for the general reader with critical commentary for the more serious scholar. The essays consider Vonnegut's later work or are retrospectives reevaluating aspects of his career. Some discuss individual works, particularly later novels, but most consider the ways Vonnegut pursues a theme or technique, the ways his mind works both in the construction of the novels and in the ideas embodied in them. There is also an Appendix discussing Vonnegut's most recent creative enterprise, graphic art, with 12 illustrations of his most recent art work.

Celebrates the career of Kurt Vonnegut and his nearly 50 years as an active, publishing author.

PrefaceChronologyIntroductionThree Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut: With Peter Reed, New York, 1982; With Zoltán Abádi-Nagy, New York, 1989; With Peter Reed and Marc Leeds, Lexington, 1993The Responsive Shaman: Kurt Vonnegut and His World by Peter ReedKurt Vonnegut: Public Spokesman by Jerome KlinkowitzKurt Vonnegut as a German American by Robert MerrillBokononism as a Structure of Ironies by Zoltá Abádi-NadjBeyond the Slaughterhouse: Tralfamadorian Reading Theory in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut by Marc LeedsJailbird: A Postmodern Fairy Tale by Kay NelsonThe Family Theme in Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick by Peter ReedDancing with the Muse in Vonnegut's Later Novels by Lorre RackstrawVonnegut's Invented Religions by Peter FreeseBluebeard and Abstract Expressionsim by Cliff McCarthyHartke's Hearing: Vonnegut's Heroes on Trial by Lawrence BroerA Selected Bibliography, 1985-1992 by Peter Reed and Paul BaeplerAppendix: The Graphics of Kurt VonnegutIndex