Kurt Vonnegut: Novels 1976-1985 (LOA #252): Slapstick / Jailbird / Deadeye Dick / Galápagos (Library of America Kurt Vonnegut Edition) - Hardcover

Vonnegut, Kurt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1598533045 ISBN 13: 9781598533040

Publisher: Library of America, 2014

Synopsis

With the success of Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Kurt Vonnegut cemented his reputation as America’s funniest and most original satirist. This third volume of the definitive edition of his fiction collects four novels written in the 1970s and ’80s, when Vonnegut was at the height of his storytelling powers. Slapstick (1976) takes the form of the post-apocalyptic memoirs of Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, architect of a brilliant scheme to rid mankind of loneliness. Jailbird (1979) is a political fable of our time, the biography of a good man who becomes embroiled in several of the worst political scandals of the American Century. Deadeye Dick (1982) depicts a talentless playwright’s struggle to atone for the crimes of his youth, and the sins of his country. Galápagos (1985), a favorite of the author’s among his books, tells the story of how and why a million years ago—during the global ecological disaster of 1986—humankind embarked on an unlikely evolution. The volume is rounded out with an assortment of Vonnegut rarities: speeches, essays, and commentary from the period that touch upon the themes, incidents, and particulars of the novels.

LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

About this title

About the Author

Sidney Offit, editor of The Library of America's four-volume Kurt Vonnegut edition, has written novels, books for young readers, and memoirs including, most recently, Friends, Writers, and Other Countrymen. He was senior editor of Intellectual Digest, book editor of Politics Today, and contributing editor of Baseball Magazine. He wrote the foreword to Look at the Birdie, a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s unpublished short fiction.

Review

"Likely to be the most attractive edition of Vonnegut you'll ever own." — Gary K. Wolfe

"Some of the best and most moving Vonnegut."

About this edition

• Publisher: Library of America
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1598533045
• ISBN 13: 9781598533040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 864
• Editor: Offit Sidney