Kurt Vonnegut

1. Kurt , Vonnegut

Schlachthof 5 oder Der Kinderkreuzzug

»Antikriegsbuch und Science-Fiction, Autobiographie und Amerika-Satire - ein sehr trauriges und herzlich komisches Buch.« Der Spiegel Ein tragikomisches Kaleidoskop des Irrsinns: Was macht der Krieg mit einem Menschen? Und wie lässt sich mit den Bildern und Erinnerungen weiterleben? Einer der wichtigsten Antikriegsromane der Weltliteratur und Meisterwerk der amerikanischen Postmoderne - neu übersetzt von Gregor Hens und mit einem aktuellen Nachwort von Asal Dardan. »Hört mal her: Billy Pilgrim hat sich aus dem Lauf der Zeit gelöst.« So beginnt die sprunghafte Geschichte von Billy Pilgrim. Er driftet durch alle Phasen und Episoden, die man in Summe Leben nennt: Als Soldat der US Army überlebt Billy Pilgrim die Ardennenoffensive, gerät in deutsche Kriegsgefangenschaft und erlebt 1945 das Bombeninferno von Dresden in einem Schlachthof, er wird Optiker, heiratet, übersteht einen Flugzeugabsturz. Er kommt in die Psychiatrie und wird von den Bewohnern des Planeten Tralfamador in einem Zoo ausgestellt. Schlachthof 5 ist ein großer zeitloser Roman - wahnsinnig witzig und grell, lakonisch und berührend zugleich.

1. Frank Herbert
2. Kurt Vonnegut
3. Algis Budrys

Five Fantastic Stories

1. Kurt , Vonnegut

Mother Night

"Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer . . . a zany but moral mad scientist."-TimeMother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all."A great artist."-Cincinnati Enquirer "A shaking up in the kaleidoscope of laughter . . . Reading Vonnegut is addictive!"-Commonweal

1. Kurt , Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five is “a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century” (Time).Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 YearsSlaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.”An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O’Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut’s words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as “the kind of writer who made people—young people especially—want to write.” George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be “the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.”More than fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.

1. Kurt , Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five

"A desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century."-Time Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American POW. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber's son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming "unstuck in time."Praise for Slaughterhouse-Five"Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement."-The Boston Globe"Very tough and very funny . . . sad and delightful . . . very Vonnegut."-New York Times"Splendid . . . a funny book at which you are not permitted to laugh, a sad book without tears."-Life "Funny, satirical, compelling, outrageous, fanciful, mordant, fecund . . . 'It's too good to be science fiction,' [the critics] would say. But Vonnegut doesn't care, and you won't care, either, because this is a writer who leaps over genres."-Los Angeles Times

1. Kurt Vonnegut

Slachthuis vijf

Kurt Vonnegut was in 1945 zelf aanwezig in Dresden toen de geallieerden de stad platbombardeerden. Hij overleefde de aanval doordat hij met zijn medegevangenen schuilde in de koelkelders van het slachthuis waar hij als krijgsgevangene tewerkgesteld was. Hij verwerkte deze traumatische ervaring in de aanvankelijk omstreden maar inmiddels klassiek geworden roman Slachthuis vijf. Billy Pelgrim, de hoofdpersoon, staat los van de tijd. Hij gaat slapen als stokoude weduwnaar en wordt wakker op de dag van zijn bruiloft. Hij stapt een deur binnen in 1955 en komt in 1941 weer naar buiten. Hij heeft zijn eigen geboorte en dood vele malen gezien, zegt hij, en bezoekt regelmatig alle gebeurtenissen daartussenin. Alleen zo, volkomen losgeraakt van de realiteit, slaagt Billy erin om de verschrikkingen van Dresden te verwerken. Een verbijsterend meesterwerk dat iedereen gelezen moet hebben.