The Writer’s Crusade
Audio only

The Writer’s Crusade

Kurt Vonnegut and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse-FiveBy Tom RostonNarrated by Jim Frangione
Length6h 56m

About this audiobook

The story of Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five, an enduring masterpiece on trauma and memory Kurt Vonnegut was twenty years old when he enlisted in the United States Army. Less than two years later, he was captured by the Germans in the single deadliest US engagement of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. He was taken to a POW camp, then transferred to a work camp near Dresden, and held in a slaughterhouse called Schlachthof Fünf where he survived the horrific firebombing that killed thousands and destroyed the city. To the millions of fans of Vonnegut’s great novel Slaughterhouse-Five, these details are familiar. They’re told by the book’s author/narrator, and experienced by his enduring character Billy Pilgrim, a war veteran who “has come unstuck in time.” Writing during the tumultuous days of the Vietnam conflict, with the novel, Vonnegut had, after more than two decades of struggle, taken trauma and created a work of art, one that still resonates today. In The Writer’s Crusade, author Tom Roston examines the connection between Vonnegut’s life and Slaughterhouse-Five through his work, his personal history, and discarded drafts of the novel, as well as original interviews with the writer’s family, friends, scholars, psychologists, and other novelists including Karl Marlantes, Kevin Powers, and Tim O’Brien. The Writer’s Crusade is a literary and biographical journey that probes fundamental questions about trauma, creativity, and the power of storytelling.

Audiobook details

Rating★★★★ 3.8 (434)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreBiography and Memoir, Literary Classics
Length6 hrs 56 mins
Narrated byJim Frangione
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJan 8, 2022
LanguageEnglish

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