Utopia 14 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. New York. 1954. Bantam. paperback. 312 pages. October 1954. A1262. 1st published in hardcover by Scribner in 1952 under the title CAT'S CRADLE.
FROM THE PUBLISHER -
Man's revolt against a glittering, mechanized tomorrow. Here is the gripping story of one man's rebellion against a terrifying world of tomorrow - a machine-ruled America that threatens to make man obsolete. In the great tradition of 'Brave New World' and '1984' Kurt Vonnegut uses a strange and marvelous world of the future to tell of passions and conflicts that are ageless. Man's revolt against a glittering, mechanized tomorrow... Here is the gripping story of one man's rebellion against a terrifying world of tomorrow - a machine-ruled America that threatens to make man obsolete. In the great tradition of 'Brave New World' and '1984' Kurt Vonnegut uses a strange and marvelous world of the future to tell of passions and conflicts that are ageless. Utopia 14 is, perhaps, Vonnegut’s most accessible novel and, unlike some of his other publications, does not seem to draw the ire of censors and detractors (although it does contain very brief mature language). The novel, however, still clearly shows the craft for which Vonnegut is famous and provides the literary challenges that instructors desire. Utopia 14 provides the irony and dark humor on which Vonnegut built his literary reputation but within a very straightforward literary construct — its plot is without the problems of time readers find in Slaughterhouse-Five. The text describes characters whose motivations are unique (a reporter, for instance, whose work leads him to a new religion and new job as dictator of an island nation) but whose presentation is easily comprehensible. As with any Vonnegut novel, social commentary, while steeped in irony, remains explicit. This commentary will allow Utopia 14 to become part of a social studies curriculum that analyzes elements of Cold War America or weapons of mass destruction and their role in history or current events. Vonnegut’s book also lends itself to any class’s discussions of religion, politics, and societal values.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle (1963), Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), and Breakfast of Champions (1973) blend satire, gallows humor, and science fiction. As a citizen he was a lifelong supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union and a critical pacifist intellectual. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association. The New York Times headline at the time of Vonnegut's passing called Vonnegut ‘the counterculture's novelist.’