WRITER

Kurt Vonnegut

1922 - 2007

Photo of Kurt Vonnegut

Icon of person Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut ( VON-ə-gət; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further works have been published since his death. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Vonnegut attended Cornell University, but withdrew in January 1943 and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Kurt Vonnegut has received more than 10,604,286 page views. His biography is available in 81 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 77 in 2019). Kurt Vonnegut is the 436th most popular writer (up from 490th in 2019), the 413th most popular biography from United States (up from 495th in 2019) and the 41st most popular American Writer.

Kurt Vonnegut is most famous for his novels Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle.

Memorability Metrics

  • 11M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 67.85

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 81

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.84

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 5.89

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

The Sirens of Titan
Fiction
America's wealthiest man succumbs to the irresistible charms of a lunar siren
19594 / 5
Player Piano
Fiction
“A funny, savage appraisal of a totally automated American society of the future.”—San Francisco Chronicle Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality. Praise for Player Piano “An exuberant, crackling style . . . Vonnegut is a black humorist, fantasist and satirist, a man disposed to deep and comic reflection on the human dilemma.”—Life “His black logic . . . gives us something to laugh about and much to fear.”—The New York Times Book Review
19524 / 5
Slaughterhouse-Five
Fiction
Billy Pilgrim returns home from the Second World War only to be kidnapped by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, who teach him that time is an eternal present
19684 / 5
Mother Night
1961
Jailbird
Fiction
A master of contemporary American literature, Vonnegut has authored 18 highly acclaimed books and dozens of short stories and essays. This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least known co-conspirator.
1979
Cat's Cradle
1963

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Kurt Vonnegut ranks 436 out of 7,302. Before him are Phaedrus, Andrzej Sapkowski, Frank Herbert, Hector Malot, Al-Maʿarri, and Abdulrazak Gurnah. After him are Louis Aragon, André Maurois, Meera, Lysias, Giacomo Leopardi, and Auguste Escoffier.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1922, Kurt Vonnegut ranks 21. Before him are Ava Gardner, Erving Goffman, Liliane Bettencourt, Emil Zátopek, Hiroo Onoda, and Aage Bohr. After him are Jack Kerouac, Imre Lakatos, Philip Larkin, Vittorio Gassman, Alain Resnais, and Christiaan Barnard. Among people deceased in 2007, Kurt Vonnegut ranks 13. Before him are Jean Baudrillard, Ève Curie, Marcel Marceau, Anna Nicole Smith, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Paul Tibbets. After him are Mohammed Zahir Shah, Carlo Ponti, Sidney Sheldon, Benazir Bhutto, Kai Siegbahn, and Maurice Béjart.

Others Born in 1922

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Others Deceased in 2007

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Kurt Vonnegut ranks 413 out of 20,380. Before him are Billie Holiday (1915), Frank Herbert (1920), Prince (1958), Jack Ruby (1911), Paul Tibbets (1915), and Willis Carrier (1876). After him are Jon Brower Minnoch (1941), Charles Francis Richter (1900), Herman Hollerith (1860), Melvin Calvin (1911), Jesse James (1847), and William McKinley (1843).

Others born in United States

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Kurt Vonnegut ranks 41. Before him are Raymond Chandler (1888), Henry James (1843), Dan Brown (1964), Sylvia Plath (1932), Philip Roth (1933), and Frank Herbert (1920). After him are Susan Sontag (1933), Jack Kerouac (1922), Eugene O'Neill (1888), Patricia Highsmith (1921), George R. R. Martin (1948), and Robert A. Heinlein (1907).

American born Writers

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