Vonnegut Jr., Kurt

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Reads Slaughterhouse Five

New York, NY, USA: Caedmon Recordings, 1973. First Edition. “America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, 'It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.' It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: 'if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?' There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register. Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”--Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007), was an American novelist who was known for his masterful blending of satire, science-fiction, dark humor, and black comedy. Vonnegut’s works include masterpieces like: Player Piano (1952); The Sirens of Titan (1959); Mother Night (1962); Cat’s Cradle (1963); Jailbird (1979); and Bluebeard (1987) just to name a few. Offered today is the 1973 vinyl record, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. reads Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, first published in 1969 and excerpted here by the author himself, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.” An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. From the back of sleeve: “Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut recently told an interviewer, “is a war story by an amnesiac. All I know about the bombing of Dresden in World War Two, the greatest massacre in European history, is that I was there – without being massacred. I forget what that was like.” Asked if that event had a lot to do with the shape of his character, whatever his character was these days, he said, “No. The amazing adventures which shaped me were over by the time I was nine years old. I’m sure. God only knows what they were. They’re harder to remember than Dresden. I’ve tried to recover some of those memories recently, and I’ve come up with this much, anyway: the big house where I was a little kid was empty a lot of the time, except for me and a black cook named Ida Young. I understand now something I didn't understand a year ago–that I received the basic education on which all subsequent educations were built from Ida Young. If it werent for her, I wouldnt know as much about the Bible and human slavery and really poor people as I do.”” From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England with Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see an example with our item no. 8217). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. Vinyl LP (12”) still sealed in plastic wrap: first edition. Record in presumably as new condition; sleeve in very fine condition with only the slightest wear to fine edges, and very minor discoloration due to age-toning. As New / Very Fine. [Item #8243]

Price: $300.00