Meet the Author
Kurt Vonnegut
American · 1922–2007 · Novelist and short-story writer
Portrait: Bernard Gotfryd / Adam Cuerden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A satirist who survived the firebombing of Dresden and wrote dark, funny fiction about what people do to each other.
2 StoryBites Editions2 Short stories
Why read Kurt Vonnegut?
Vonnegut wrote short, plain sentences about enormous things: war, technology, and governments that try to make life fair or tidy. His stories read fast and land hard. Read him for jokes that turn out to be arguments.
A life in six dates
- 1922Born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- 1944Captured by German forces during the Battle of the Bulge
- 1945Survives the firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war
- 1952Publishes his first novel, Player Piano
- 1961Publishes Harrison Bergeron
- 1962Publishes 2 B R 0 2 B
- 1969Publishes Slaughterhouse-Five
- 2007Dies in New York City
Themes across the collection
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
The Second World WarWhat he saw in Dresden shaped his view of war and became the heart of Slaughterhouse-Five.
Science fiction magazinesMany of his early stories appeared in popular magazines, where he used futuristic settings to satirize the present.
Cold War AmericaHis fiction questions technology, conformity, and faith in progress during the atomic age.