Complete Stories

If one were to look up the word “prolific” in the dictionary, one might well find a photograph of Kurt Vonnegut staring back. The amount of written work Vonnegut created in less than sixty years of writing is astounding. Besides the fourteen novels, five non-fiction books, and five plays he wrote, he wrote ninety-eight short stories. Some were parts of three collections Vonnegut published during his lifetime. Others appeared in various magazines, a few were published online, and some were never published. Now all of these have been gathered in one astonishingly large volume (944 pages). This collection offers a rather wonderful window into the development not only of this writer’s style but, in some cases, the development of particular settings and characters and interpretations of themes that would become later, larger works. The collection was arranged and introduced by fellow writer and friend Dan Wakefield and Vonnegut scholar Jerome Klinkowitz. The stories are arranged by theme, including “War,” “Work Ethic vs. Fame and Fortune,” “Futuristic,” “Women,” and others that reflect on themes so often emphasized in Vonnegut’s works. This will be a welcome addition to the libraries of fans of Vonnegut and of great fiction.