His career encompasses many pivotal events in 20th-century America, evidenced in the subject matter of his fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works.
In 1952, Vonnegut published his first novel,
Player Piano. It was well acclaimed but not commercially successful. In the nearly 20 years that followed, he continued to publish more novels, including two that were nominated for the
Hugo Awards:
The Sirens Of Titan [1959] and
Cat's Cradle [1963].
Vonnegut's commercial breakthrough was his sixth novel,
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969). The book's anti-war sentiment resonated with its readers amidst the ongoing Vietnam War, and Slaughterhouse-Five went to the top of The New York Times Best Seller list.
For a taste of his dark humor, consider a 2006 interview where Vonnegut sardonically stated that he would sue the maker of the Pall Mall-branded cigarettes he had been smoking since he was a teenager, for false advertising: "And do you know why? Because I'm 83 years old. The lying bastards! On the package, Brown & Williamson promised to kill me."
Vonnegut died a year later, on April 11, 2007, as a result of brain injuries incurred from a fall at his home.
Read more in our blog: The Legacy of
Kurt Vonnegut (https://www.biblio.com/blog/2022/11/the-legacy-of-kurt-vonnegut/)
