Look at the Birdie: Unpublished Short Fiction“Relentlessly fun to read.”—Dave Eggers • A collection of fourteen previously unpublished short stories from one of the most original writers in all of American fiction In this series of perfectly rendered vignettes, written just as he was starting to find his comic voice, Kurt Vonnegut paints a warm, wise, and funny portrait of life in post–World War II America—a world where squabbling couples, high school geniuses, misfit office workers, and small-town lotharios struggle to adapt to changing technology, moral ambiguity, and unprecedented affluence. Here are tales both cautionary and hopeful, each brimming with Vonnegut’s trademark humor and profound humanism. A family learns the downside of confiding their deepest secrets into a magical invention. A man finds himself in a Kafkaesque world of trouble after he runs afoul of the shady underworld boss who calls the shots in an upstate New York town. A quack psychiatrist turned “murder counselor” concocts a novel new outlet for his paranoid patients. While these stories reflect the anxieties of the postwar era that Vonnegut was so adept at capturing—and provide insight into the development of his early style—collectively, they have a timeless quality that makes them just as relevant today as when they were written. It’s impossible to imagine any of these pieces flowing from the pen of another writer; each in its own way is unmistakably, quintessentially Vonnegut. Featuring a foreword by author and longtime Vonnegut confidant Sidney Offit and illustrated with Vonnegut’s characteristically insouciant line drawings, Look at the Birdie is an unexpected gift for readers who thought his unique voice had been stilled forever—and serves as a terrific introduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet to experience his genius. Includes these never-before-published stories: “Confido” “FUBAR” “Shout About It from the Housetops” “Ed Luby’s Key Club” “A Song for Selma” “Hall of Mirrors” “The Nice Little People” “Hello, Red” “Little Drops of Water” “The Petrified Ants” “The Honor of a Newsboy” “Look at the Birdie” “King and Queen of the Universe” “The Good Explainer” “[Look at the Birdie] brings us the late writer’s young voice as he skewers—sometimes gently, always lethally—post World War II America.”—The Boston Globe |
Contents
7 | |
FUBAR | 21 |
Shout About It from the Housetops | 37 |
Ed Lubys Key Club | 51 |
Part | 75 |
A Song for Selma | 103 |
Hall of Mirrors | 121 |
The Nice Little People | 139 |
Hello | 151 |
Little Drops of Water | 167 |
The Petrified Ants | 185 |
The Honor of a Newsboy | 203 |
King and Queen of the Universe | 221 |
The Good Explainer | 241 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abekian ants asked Big Floyd Borgorov Captain Luby Carney and Foltz Charley club Confido crazy doctor dollars door Earl Ed Luby Eddie eyes face father Francine friends fubar Fuzz girl glockenspiel going guess hands happened Harve and Claire Harve Elliot Harve's head heard Helmholtz Henry and Anne husband Ilium Police Josef Judge Wampler Karpinsky Key Club kill knew Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut/Origami Express Kurt's Larry Larry's laughed Lemming Littler looked Lowell Luby's lunch Madelaine minute mirrors Mitchell murder Nancy never nice night nodded paper Pefko Peter pincers Schroeder seemed Selma sergeant shook Sirens of Titan Slim smiled sorry station wagon stopped story talk taxicab tell There's thing thought told turned voice Vonnegut Weems What's whispered wife window woman word of honor