DRESDEN, MEMORY & THE ABSURDITY OF WAR

Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. (1922–2007)

Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death

New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1971. First Dell printing—October 1971. Softcover.
VONNEGUT’S LANDMARK ANTI-WAR NOVEL.
Drawing upon Kurt Vonnegut’s experience as an American prisoner of war who survived the 1945 bombing of Dresden, Slaughterhouse-Five follows Billy Pilgrim through war, memory, time travel, and the alien world of Tralfamadore. Its fractured chronology, black humor, science-fiction elements, and recurring fatalism transformed autobiographical trauma into one of the defining American novels to emerge from World War II.

FIRST DELL PAPERBACK PRINTING.
Issued in October 1971, this was Dell’s first mass-market paperback printing, bringing Vonnegut’s breakthrough novel to the broad paperback readership that helped establish his extraordinary popularity during the 1970s. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Mass-market paperback in illustrated wrappers, Dell 8029, priced 95¢. 215 pages. Green-stained text-block edges. The front wrapper carries the period promotional line identifying the book as a bestseller and quoting The New York Times. Publisher’s advertisements and review excerpts appear on the wrappers.

The abstract orange-toned illustrated wrapper is characteristic of this October 1971 printing and differs from the earlier Dell 8029 issue reported with an April 1970 printing statement.

CONDITION: VERY GOOD. Bindings tight and square with no spine crease or spine fading. Text clean with light, even age-toning. Green edge stain remains visible. Minimal shelf-handling wear with rubbing and small areas of wear to the illustrated wrappers.

LITERARY SIGNIFICANCE: FROM CULT NOVELIST TO MAJOR AMERICAN WRITER.
Published originally in 1969, Slaughterhouse-Five became Vonnegut’s breakthrough work, joining his wartime experience in Dresden to an experimental narrative of memory, trauma, free will, and the absurdity of war. Its mixture of literary fiction and science fiction helped move Vonnegut from a writer associated largely with paperback science fiction into the center of postwar American literature.

GENRES: American Literature, Modern First Editions, Literary Fiction, Science Fiction, Anti-War Fiction, World War II Fiction, Postmodern Fiction

SUBJECTS: Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, Dresden Bombing, World War II, Prisoners of War, Anti-War Literature, Time Travel, Tralfamadore.

Item #22455

Price: $35.00