Kurt Vonnegut - Collected Works and Letters (46 books)

* Kurt Vonnegut - Collected Works and Letters (46 books)

KURT VONNEGUT JR. (1922–2007) was one of the most distinctive and influential American writers of the twentieth century, known for blending dark humor, science fiction, and sharp social criticism into a style that is instantly recognizable. Shaped by his experiences as a soldier in World War II—most notably surviving the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war—Vonnegut developed a deeply skeptical view of war, authority, and human progress. His writing often confronts the absurdity of existence, the dangers of technology, and the fragility of free will, all while maintaining a deceptively simple, conversational tone.

Vonnegut’s fiction is where these concerns find their most famous expression. PLAYER PIANO (1952), his first novel, examines the dehumanizing effects of automation and corporate technocracy, anticipating later debates about artificial intelligence and labor. THE SIRENS OF TITAN (1959) blends space travel with philosophical satire to question free will and the search for meaning in an apparently indifferent universe. His breakthrough novel, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1969), draws directly on his wartime experiences and employs time travel and fragmented narrative to depict the trauma of war and the illusion of linear time.

Other major novels, such as CAT’S CRADLE (1963), MOTHER NIGHT (1961), GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER (1965), and BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS (1973), use satire and speculative elements to critique religion, capitalism, nationalism, and the blind faith placed in science. In JAILBIRD (1979) and DEADEYE DICK (1982), Vonnegut turns more directly to American political and social history. Across these works, his spare prose, short chapters, and recurring symbols serve not as stylistic quirks but as deliberate tools for exposing the absurd structures governing modern life.

More than half of Vonnegut’s output was short fiction and his COMPLETE STORIES (2017) brings together ninety-eight stories written from 1941 to 2007, including those published in magazines, collected in various books, as well as five previously unpublished stories and a handful of others that were published online and read by few.

Vonnegut’s non-fiction complements his novels by presenting his ideas without fictional mediation. Essay collections such as WAMPETERS, FOMA & GRANFALLOONS (1974) and PALM SUNDAY (1981) mix cultural criticism with autobiographical reflection, while A MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY (2005) offers a late, direct assessment of American politics, citizenship, and ethical responsibility. In speeches and essays later collected in IF THIS ISN’T NICE, WHAT IS? (2013), Vonnegut emphasizes kindness, community, and attentiveness as modest but necessary responses to a flawed world. Taken together, his fiction and non-fiction present a coherent worldview: deeply critical of human folly, yet stubbornly committed to compassion and decency.


The following books are in ePUB format unless otherwise noted:

== NOVELS ==

* Bluebeard (Dial, 2011)
* Breakfast of Champions (Dial, 2002)
* Cat's Cradle (Dial, 2009)
* Deadeye Dick (Dial, 2009)
* Galapagos (Dial, 2009)
* God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (Dial, 2007)
* Hocus Pocus (Berkley, 1997)
* Jailbird (Dial, 2010)
* Mother Night (Dial, 2009)
* Novels & Stories, 1950-1962 [ed. Offit] (Library of America, 2012) – PDF
* Novels & Stories, 1963-1973 [ed. Offit] (Library of America, 2011) – PDF
* Player Piano (Dial, 2009)
* Sirens of Titan (Dial, 2007)
* Slapstick or Lonesome No More (Dial, 2010)
* Slaughterhouse-Five (Modern Library, 2019)
* Timequake (Berkley, 1998)

== SHORT FICTION ==

* 2BR02B (Floating Press, 2002)
* Armageddon in Retrospect (Putnam's, 2008)
* Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (Rosetta, 2011)
* Basic Training: A Novella (Rosetta, 2012)
* The Big Trip Up Yonder (Rosetta, 2011)
* Complete Stories [ed. Klinkowitz & Wakefield] (Seven Stories, 2017) – ePUB / PDF
* God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (Seven Stories, 2011)
* Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction (Delacorte, 2009)
* Sucker's Portfolio (Kindle Serial, 2012)
* Unready to Wear (Rosetta, 2011)
* We Are What We Pretend to Be: The First & Last Works (Vanguard, 2012)
* Welcome to the Monkey House (Dial, 2014)
* While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction (Delacorte, 2011)

== DRAMATIC WORKS ==

* Between Time and Timbuktu, or Prometheus-5: A Space Fantasy (Dial, 2020)
* Happy Birthday, Wanda June: A Play (Dial, 2020)

== NON-FICTION ==

* A Man Without a Country (Random House, 2017)
* The Cornell Sun Years, 1941-1943 [ed. Morisy & Shoval] (Cornell Daily Sun, 2011) – PDF
* Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical Collage (Putnams, 1991) – ePUB / PDF
* If This Isn't Nice, What Is: Advice for the Young, 3e (Seven Stories, 2014)
* Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation about Writing (Seven Stories, 2011)
* Nothing is Lost Save Honor: Two Essays (Nouveau, 1984) – PDF
* Palm Sunday : An Autobiographical Collage (Dial, 2009)
* Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style (Rosetta, 2019)
* Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (Opinions) (Dial, 2006)

== LETTERS ==

* Letters [ed. Wakefield] (Delacorte, 2012)
* Love, Kurt: The Love Letters, 1941-1945 (Random House, 2020)

== INTERVIEWS ==

* Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut [ed. Allen] (Mississippi, 1988) – PDF
* Last Interview and Other Conversations [ed. McCartan] (Melville House, 2011)

== OTHER ==

* Drawings (Monacelli, 2014)
* Sun Moon Star (Rosetta, 2013)

== BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ==

* Kurt Vonnegut: A Comprehensive Bibliography (Archon, 1987) – PDF


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