Prisoner of war, optometrist, time-traveller - these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim, hero of this miraculously moving, bitter and funny story of innocence faced with apocalypse. Slaughterhouse 5 is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centring on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.

Read Kurt Vonnegut's powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published. Billy Pilgrim – hapless barber's assistant, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower and soldier – has become unstuck in time. Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. But when, exactly? How did he get here? And how does he get out? Travel through time and space on the shoulders of Vonnegut himself. This is a book about war. Listen to what he has to say: it is of the utmost urgency. ‘The great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.’ George Saunders

From the author of Slaughterhouse 5. In Rabo Karabekian’s fictional autobiography, Vonnegut creates an impeccably funny satirical piece, through the reflections of a seventy-one-year-old man.

Курт Воннегут: Американский писатель-фантаст. В конце Второй мировой войны был ранен, попал в плен, и в лагере для военнопленных под Дрезденом стал свидетелем варварской бомбардировки города. Это наложило отпечаток на его жизнь и творчество и нашло отражение в лучшем его романе "Бойня номер пять". В 1967 г. он приехал в Дрезден, чтобы собрать материал для романа, который впоследствии был признан шедевром. Один из ведущих мастеров прозы, в произведениях которого современная жизнь предстает как абсурдная, неуправляемая, апокалиптическая комедия. Ведущие темы его творчества - дегуманизирующее влияние технологий, доброта как единственное средство одолеть человеческую глупость и жестокость. Давая художественную интерпретацию этих тем, писатель сплавляет воедино иронию, сатиру, научную фантастику и трагикомедию.

As a young man and a prisoner of war, Kurt Vonnegut witnessed the 1945 US fire-bombing of Dresden in Germany, which reduced the once proudly beautiful city to rubble and claimed the lives of thousands of its citizens. For many years, Kurt tried to write about Dresden but the words would not come. When he did write about it, he combined his trademark humour, unfettered imagination, boundless humanity and keen sense of irony to create one of the most powerful anti-war books every written, and an enduring American classic. This special edition is published with notes of appreciation from some of the book's ardent fans (Kate Atkinson, Richard Herring, Robin Ince) as well as fascinating extra material from Vonnegut's archive which casts light on the genesis, reception and enduring influence of an iconic American classic.

Предлагаем вниманию читателей роман знаменитого американского писателя К.Воннегута, в основе которого - впечатления автора от событий февраля 1945 г., когда союзническая авиация бомбила Дрезден. Книга снабжена заданиями на понимание текста, комментариями и словарем. Для учащихся языковых вузов и всех любителей англоязычной литературы. Подготовка текста, комментарии и словарь Ю.В.Гадаевой.

Read Kurt Vonneguts powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published. An extraordinary success. A book to read and reread. He is a true artist New York Times Book Review Billy Pilgrim - hapless barbers assistant, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower and soldier - has become unstuck in time. Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. But when, exactly? How did he get here? And how does he get out? Travel through time and space on the shoulders of Vonnegut himself. This is a book about war. Listen to what he has to say: it is of the utmost urgency. The great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves. George Saunders

Read Kurt Vonneguts powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published. An extraordinary success. A book to read and reread. He is a true artist New York Times Book Review Billy Pilgrim - hapless barbers assistant, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower and soldier - has become unstuck in time. Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. But when, exactly? How did he get here? And how does he get out? Travel through time and space on the shoulders of Vonnegut himself. This is a book about war. Listen to what he has to say: it is of the utmost urgency. The great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves. George Saunders

Книга для чтения на английском языке.

Книга для чтения на английском языке.

An 'autobiographical collage' of speeches, stories and essays, in Palm Sunday, Kurt Vonnegut writes beguilingly about everything from country music to George Bush, his favourite comedians to his mother's midnight mania, and bittersweet tributes to a dead best friend and a dead marriage. Resonating with his singular voice, this is a self-portrait in writing that showcases why Kurt Vonnegut is as genius an essayist and commentator on American society as he is a novelist.

Jailbird takes us into a fractured and comic, pure Vonnegut world of high crimes and misdemeanors in government - and in the heart. This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least known co-conspirator. But the humor turns dark when Vonnegut shines his spotlight on the cold hearts and calculated greed of the mighty, giving a razor-sharp edge to an unforgettable portrait of power and politics in our times.

Long, long ago, as he researched into the origin of species, Charles Darwin had been inspired by the creatures of the Galapagos. Now, a million years on, the new inhabitants of the islands - the human survivors of the "Nature Cruise of the Century" - have quietly evolved into sleek, furry creatures with flippers, and small brains. All other forms of humankind have ceased to exist, finally made redundant by their own inventions. All that survives of their Big-Brain Culture is contained in Mandarax, a tiny electronic marvel which can recall any one of twenty thousand popular quotations from world literature, as well as translate among a thousand languages. Unfortunately, Mandarax doesn't understand Kanka-Bono, the language of the cannibals who have arrived to "look after" the new humanity...

This collection of Vonnegut's letters is the autobiography he never wrote - from the letter he posted home upon being freed from a German POW camp, to notes of advice to his children: 'Don't let anybody tell you that smoking and boozing are bad for you. Here I am fifty-five years old, and I never felt better in my life'. Peppered with insights, one-liners and missives to the likes of Norman Mailer, Gunter Grass and Bernard Malamud, Vonnegut is funny, wise and modest. As he himself said: 'I am an American fad-of a slightly higher order than the hula hoop'. Like Vonnegut's books, his letters make you think, they make you outraged and they make you laugh. Written over a sixty-year period, and never published before, these letters are alive with the unique point of view that made Vonnegut one of the most original writers in American fiction.

'A wise, winning and utterly charming concoction of fiction, commentary and autobiography' Literary Review 'Timequake is sweet, wild and cock-eyed... Vonnegut has always had a true comic ear... A beautifully fastidious writer, utterly original' - Guardian According to science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout, a global timequake will occur in New York City on 13th February 2001. It is the moment when the universe suffers a crisis of conscience. Should it expand or make a great big bang? It decides to wind the clock back a decade to 1991, making everyone in the world endure ten years of deja-vu and a total loss of free will - not to mention the torture of reliving every nanosecond of one of the tawdiest and most hollow decades. With his trademark wicked wit, Vonnegut addresses memory, suicide, the Great Depression, the loss of American eloquence, and the obsolescent thrill of reading books.

Vonnegut's riotous urban fairytale about the various fiascos of the Nixon years - a firm fan favourite Walter J. Starbuck's life was on the up. With a Harvard education, a job in federal government and then in Nixon's White House, everything was going great. Only things took a truly spectacular turn for the worse when his involvement in the Watergate scandal landed him in jail. Now, as the brave new world of the 1980s dawns, Starbuck is finally free and on his way back into the world. This is the story of the first twenty-four hours after his release, told with Kurt Vonnegut's razor-sharp wit and satirical bite.