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March 31, 2019 7:30 AM Subscribe
Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death was first released 50 years ago on March 31, 1969. Here are the 50 best covers from various translations around the world.
The Atlantic: The Meaning of Slaughterhouse-Five, 50 Years Later
GQ (?!): 50 years on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five remains untouched by time
The Atlantic: The Meaning of Slaughterhouse-Five, 50 Years Later
GQ (?!): 50 years on Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five remains untouched by time
Fifty years have passed since the publication of Slaughterhouse-Five. It’s the same age as me. And the older I get, and the more lumps fall off my brain, the more I find that rereading is the thing. Build your own little cockeyed canon and then bear down on it; get to know it, forward and backward; get to know it well. So I don’t know how many times I’ve read Slaughterhouse-Five. Three? Four? It never gets old, is the point. It never wanes in energy.
Yup.
Thanks to this post, today I decided to wear my "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt" T-shirt.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:22 AM on March 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
Yup.
Thanks to this post, today I decided to wear my "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt" T-shirt.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:22 AM on March 31, 2019 [11 favorites]
I found an audiobook read by Ethen Hawke accompanied by the text, if anyone is interested.
posted by hippybear at 8:42 AM on March 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:42 AM on March 31, 2019 [4 favorites]
Kevin Powers in the New York Times
The real Schlachthof Fünf or Slaughterhouse Five, a real slaughterhouse in Dresden
posted by gudrun at 8:46 AM on March 31, 2019
The real Schlachthof Fünf or Slaughterhouse Five, a real slaughterhouse in Dresden
posted by gudrun at 8:46 AM on March 31, 2019
I started re-reading it recently!
posted by growabrain at 8:48 AM on March 31, 2019
posted by growabrain at 8:48 AM on March 31, 2019
Sweden was my favorite.
posted by glonous keming at 9:01 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by glonous keming at 9:01 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
The first cover seems familiar so it's probably the one I read, don't love all the covers, the one that is mid-70s-science-fiction-paperback style bothers a bit as the book certainly falls within some venn diagram of 'SF' it is rather so much more. Not sure I could deal with a re-read just now tho'.
posted by sammyo at 9:03 AM on March 31, 2019
posted by sammyo at 9:03 AM on March 31, 2019
I've been thinking of reading this again (or Catch-22 maybe) this summer. Billy Pilgrim and Yosarian. Mmmm.
posted by Fukiyama at 9:08 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Fukiyama at 9:08 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
Some very good covers. I like the Lithuanian 2017 one.
posted by neutralmojo at 9:22 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by neutralmojo at 9:22 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I miss him. Sometimes it feels like the only adult has left the room.
posted by night_train at 9:30 AM on March 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by night_train at 9:30 AM on March 31, 2019 [8 favorites]
My favorite was one of the Czech ones, but quite a few are good.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:11 AM on March 31, 2019
posted by Dip Flash at 10:11 AM on March 31, 2019
The Russian one is my new lock screen.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 10:14 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Yuck at 10:14 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
I probably should re-read it since it's been about forty years but I re-read Cat's Cradle over Christmas and it really didn't age well for me. The central idea is still great but I found it pretty misogynistic and racist in ways that made me pretty sad.
posted by octothorpe at 10:53 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 10:53 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
That audiobook I linked to earlier is really quite good. Hawke does a great job reading the story with lot of empathy. It's interesting to hear it instead of just read it. A lot of things I would have glossed over just reading it are brought to the forefront in this reading, and I'm finding the experience to be of better value than just having the text on a page.
posted by hippybear at 1:52 PM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 1:52 PM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
The part with the aerial bombing running backwards is one of my all time favorite passages in literature. I am more often than not, reading aloud to myself to keep details in focus. I have not yet started audio books, because I think I could ignore them as well as I ignore text, after a while.
posted by Oyéah at 2:17 PM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 2:17 PM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]
brb buying an "everything was beautiful and nothing hurt" t-shirt
posted by drlith at 3:34 PM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by drlith at 3:34 PM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
There are aspects of his writing that don't date well, and some parts that are pretty goofy and corny.
But he introduced some ideas about philosophy for a wide general audience.
posted by ovvl at 7:06 PM on March 31, 2019
But he introduced some ideas about philosophy for a wide general audience.
posted by ovvl at 7:06 PM on March 31, 2019
The book is not dated at all, and if you haven't revisited it I suggest you do. I just finished reading (well, listening) to it, and it's astonishingly powerful in a way I hadn't recognized when I was required to read it in high school.
posted by hippybear at 3:29 AM on April 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 3:29 AM on April 1, 2019 [1 favorite]
Came here to second the recommendation for the version read by Ethan Hawke. I had the chapters of the audiobook shuffled in with my music for the longest time, and it's still my favorite way to absorb this book: in surprise doses unstuck in time between two songs.
posted by Freyja at 6:45 AM on April 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Freyja at 6:45 AM on April 1, 2019 [3 favorites]
Been meaning to reread it. Almost taught it in my war lit class.
Those covers... looks like we American readers missed out, being stuck with dull ones.
posted by doctornemo at 11:06 AM on April 1, 2019
Those covers... looks like we American readers missed out, being stuck with dull ones.
posted by doctornemo at 11:06 AM on April 1, 2019
(And that's another stray Babylon-5 reference I've bumped into on MeFi. Unstuck in time.)
posted by doctornemo at 11:08 AM on April 1, 2019
posted by doctornemo at 11:08 AM on April 1, 2019
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posted by gwint at 8:19 AM on March 31, 2019 [3 favorites]