Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace

Armageddon in retrospect is a collection of short stories published after Kurt Vonnegut's death. It has been a while since I read Kurt Vonnegut but these writings recall his early, sardonic style which I so much enjoyed in the 70's. Kurt Vonnegut is an expert at adding an ironic twist to his stories which causes the reader to ponder the story long after the first reading. Since my reading time is limited, I like pulling out the book at lunch hour or when I have a break at work, read a story, then put it down for the next time. I would recommend this book.

In this book, Kurt Vonnegut returns to his lifelong obsession: the bombing of the German city of Dresdner at the end of World War II. In `Wailing Shall be in the Streets': `boys, you killed an appalling lot of women and children. Wholesale bombing of civilian populations was blasphemous. The sickening truth is that for all the sublimity of the cause for which we fought, we surely created a Belsen of our own.' US He was fed up with US governmental policies: `that all that money we were spending blowing up things and killing people so far away, making people the world over hate and fear us, would have been better spent on public education and libraries.' (Introduction by his son, Mark) He didn't have a great opinion about his white compatriots: `the most splendid American phenomenon of my lifetime is how African-American citizen have maintained their dignity and self-respect, despite their having been treated by white Americans simply because of their skin color.' (`At Clower Hall, Indianapolis') The real nature of Man and `Civilization' Nor was his vision of man in general very bright: inventions of still more sophisticated weapons (`Great Day'), attraction to violence (`Soft citizen of the American democracy learned to kick a man below the belt and make the [...]scream.'), the brutality of the powerful (`The Unicorn Trap), war profiteering (`Brighten Up'), use of secret intelligence services ('Just You and Me, Sammy') or search for revenge (`The Commandant's Desk'). Ultimately, the Devil sits inside Man; Man is the Devil (`Armageddon in Retrospect'). His last published words summarize it all: `It was disgust with civilization'. This book is a must read for all lovers of world literature and for all fans of the writer of such masterpieces as `Slaughterhouse Five' and `Mother Night'.

Armageddon in Retrospect is a terrific collection of some short works by Kurt as well as a forward from his son, a pediatrician. There is so much humanity in these stories. Without going into each of them, Wailing Shall Be in All Streets, in many ways supersedes the power of Slaughterhouse Five. This is a sweeping, perhaps blasphemous statement, but my view on the war itself was changed by reading this incredible story. No one could craft sentences and sentiment quite the way Kurt could, and perhaps no one ever will.

"Where do I get my ideas from? You might as well have asked that of Beethoven. He was goofing around in Germany like everybody else, and all of a sudden this stuff came gushing out of him. It was music. I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana, and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization." Kurt Vonnegut was no stranger to getting his feelings out there in his fiction. Slaughterhouse-Five is the most obvious example, using protagonist Billy Pilgrim's experience as a survivor of the horrific bombing of Dresden as a stand-in for Vonnegut himself, who was a prisoner of war during that life-altering event. Being present for that atrocity forever scarred Vonnegut's perception of humanity, and the repercussions can be felt whenever you pick up one of his books. Truly, he was a man with a complicated, tortured perspective on the rest of the world. He had seen humanity at its worst, yet still seemed to believe that it was possible for man to redeem himself if he would just try. Yes, Vonnegut's canon is packed with the disgust for civilization that he mentions in the above quote, but it is also marked by a starry-eyed hopefulness. William Golding, author of "Lord of the Flies," struck the same chords in his fiction, and he took home a Nobel Prize for his troubles. "Armageddon in Retrospect" is a collection of previously unpublished works by Vonnegut, almost exclusively from the period of his life after he returned home from WWII and before he struck it big as a novelist. The exceptions are a speech that he was meant to deliver in Indianapolis in late April, 2007, but which had to be delivered by his son, Mark, instead after Vonnegut passed away earlier that same month, and a letter that he wrote to his family to explain what had happened to him since he had been taken prisoner (namely, that he had survived that dreadful firebombing in Dresden and would be returning home, although many of his compatriots had not been so lucky). The letter is nothing short of astonishing. Devoid of almost all emotion, it resonates powerfully - a truly timeless document, but one that is especially meaningful in a time when there are American soldiers overseas and fighting rages on. The speech, on the other hand, is notable as the last piece of writing the great Vonnegut would produce, but for anyone who read A Man Without a Country it will sound a little too familiar. The bulk of "Armageddon" is comprised of short stories, and splendid stories they are, if a slight touch uneven. "Great Day," "The Unicorn Trap," and, unfortunately, the title story, "Armageddon in Retrospect," are stumbles, but only minor ones. Luckily, the good stories do more than their share to balance things out. With two exceptions, all of the stories deal directly with the wages of war and the soldiers who survive the ordeal. All of them examine the inherent corruptibility of man, and the things some people are willing to do to survive.

I can't imagine that any Vonnegut devotee wouldn't want to delve into these stories. All of Kurt's digressive humor, wry wit, and insight entertain us once again, especially in his commentaries about the play of war in our lives. My absolute favorite piece is "The Unicorn Trap," which shows, with deft anachronism, the story of Robert the Horrible and the serfs in the days of the Norman Conquest. No hints here; it must be READ. A true treasure.