Born in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, KURT VONNEGUT was one of the few grandmasters of modern American letters. Called by the New York Times "the counterculture's novelist," his works guided a generation through the miasma of war and greed that was life in the US in the second half of the twentieth century. Vonnegut rose to prominence with the publication of Cat's Cradle in 1963. Several modern classics, including Slaughterhouse-Five, soon followed. And he wrote and published dozens of short stories. "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. A longtime friend of Kurt Vonnegut's, DAN WAKEFIELD edited and introduced Kurt Vonnegut- Letters, and is the author of the memoirs New York in the Fifties and Returning- A Spiritual Journey, and the novel, Going All the Way, which was made into a movie starring Ben Affleck. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. JEROME KLINKOWITZ, a scholar of mid-century American literature in general and Kurt Vonnegut in particular, is a professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa. He is co-editor of The Vonnegut Statement and author of several books including The American 1960s. He lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa. DAVE EGGERS is the founder of McSweeney's and is the author of many books, including Heroes of the Frontier, The Circle, A Hologram for the King, and What Is the What.
"For completists, this will be like a boxed set of a musician's
early work - Vonnegut's Sun Studio sessions ... It's fascinating to
watch him work themes that would later animate his 14 novels and
five books of nonfiction: the cruel stupidity of war, the
dehumanizing dangers of technology, the distillation of American
values into mere greed and selfishness.... An extraordinary heart
exists behind these stories." -Jess Walter, New York Times Book
Review
"There are wonderful lines, sentences, and whole paragraphs
throughout the collection; it is full of constructions that are
funny, clever, and unexpected.... Generosity and decency seem to be
the two qualities Vonnegut values most, even as he recognizes their
fragility and rarity." -Geoff Nicholson, Los Angeles Review
of Books
"Vonnegut's writing explodes with disquieting warnings and lessons
that continue to ring true for contemporary readers."
-Huffington Post
"Kurt Vonnegut: Complete Stories is a deep dive into one of the
great minds in American literature: morally serious, formally
adventurous, and topically diverse. A reader could happily spend
years wandering around in this book." -Matthew Sharpe,
bestselling author of The Sleeping Father and
Jamestown
"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
"A sterling collection of the late Vonnegut's corpus of
short fiction, with several unpublished pieces to balance
better-known published and anthologized work.... Essential for
Vonnegut completists, of course-and budding writers can always
learn a thing or two from the sardonic master." -Kirkus
Reviews, starred review
"Complete Stories will not easily fit in briefcases or
backpacks. Stuff it into your overhead compartment at your own
risk. That said, this collection is an indispensable and
beautifully presented survey of the sweet, nostalgic, dark,
brooding, wondrous themes that swirled on the wide palette of Kurt
Vonnegut.... Complete Stories is a time-consuming commitment
that rewards with celebrations of days long gone by and a doomed
yet manageable future." -Pop Matters
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |