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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 818.6 EAN: 9780399155086 ISBN: 0399155082 Label: Putnam Adult Manufacturer: Putnam Adult Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 240 Publication Date: April 01, 2008 Publisher: Putnam Adult Studio: Putnam Adult Editorial Review: Book Description: The first and only collection of unpublished works by Kurt Vonnegut since his death--a fitting tribute to the author, and an essential contribution to the discussion of war, peace, and humanity's tendency toward violence.  Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace. Imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor, the pieces range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II--an essay that is as timely today as it was then--to a painfully funny short story about three Army privates and their fantasies of the perfect first meal upon returning home from war, to a darker, more poignant story about the impossibility of shielding our children from the temptations of violence. Also included are Vonnegut's last speech as well as an assortment of his artwork, and an introduction by the author's son, Mark Vonnegut. Armageddon in Retrospect says as much about the times in which we live as it does about the genius of the writer. Read an Unreleased Kurt Vonnegut Story, "Guns Before Butter" Kurt Vonnegut Sketchbook
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Beating a dead horseLet me start off by saying that I am a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan. However, this posthumous volume leaves the reader wanting something more. I believe the reasons are twofold. First, this is not Vonnegut's best writing. Some of the short stories included are so trite in their style and theme that one hopes that they were novice pieces that Vonnegut wrote while he was maturing into the great writer he was. The second reason for this text's limited appeal is because all of the pieces deal with variations ... Read More Rating: - A Respectable Final VolumeThis collection of previously unpublished works should provide satisfactory closure for Vonnegut fans and admirers. Fiction and nonfiction, dealing with war but more generally with violence and suffering, they are of great interest considering their author. The pieces vary in quality and in tone, from a grim description of the bombing of Dresden to the odd light humor of the title work. The introduction by the author's son is interesting, and the book is sprinkled with Vonnegut's own illustrations. I'd ... Read More Rating: - Setting Up The Fall, Vonnegut-styleMade In Hero Maybe some subjects are difficult to talk about without a dose of juvenile humor. Talk about honestly, anyway. For Kurt Vonnegut, one of those subjects was war. He seemed to feel that war was meaningless, although writing about it wasn't. His son Mark observed, "The reader's time and attention were sacred to him." As a tribute to the legacy of Kurt Vonnegut, this volume of previously unpublished writings is bittersweet. It begins with Kurt's army repatriation letter, ... Read More Rating: - Let's Be HonestOkay I'm sure some people will be upset with this but this collection is good enough in the respect that it has a recurring theme and some of the stories toward the middle are actually very good. Otherwise this is a substandard collection from Kurt Vonnegut, the title story being almost unreadable (not usually a good place to pull your title from) and ultimately continues in the tradition of the frankly awful stuff Vonnegut put out toward the end of his life (Timequake anyone?). Overall I appreciate the posthumous ... Read More Rating: - A Few Last(?) Things From the MasterA collection of stories and essays by one of my favorite authors. Most are based on his experiences as a POW in Dresden, and in the time right afterwards. Several seem like attempts to craft his experiences into a story of some sort, and as the stories are undated, you wonder if these were early attempts to get a handle on it all - which he did in Sluaghterhouse Five. Or maybe they were later variations on this major and life-altering experience. Either way, they are very good, but not his best work. Still, it's ... Read More |
