[This entry was updated by Peter J. Reed (University of Minnesota) from his entry in DLB 152: American Novelists Since World War II, Fourth Series.]

Though Kurt Vonnegut had been a widely read short-story writer throughout the 1950s and though his novels had developed a cult following in the 1960s, it was in 1970, when his novel Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Children's Crusade (1969) caught the mood of a country disillusioned with the Vietnam War, that he achieved widespread acclaim. Since then his earlier novels have been studied with increased attention, while his steady production has continued to keep his name before the public. Besides his popularity in the United States, Vonnegut's work has been widely translated, achieving particular success in Britain, Germany, and Russia. All fourteen of his novels remain in print, a remarkable feat considering that they cover a career of some forty-five years. The novels and short stories continue...