Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction

“Bagombo Snuff Box resurrects Vonnegut’s earliest efforts, stories written during the fifties and sixties for such popular venues as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. In his engagingly autobiographical introduction, Vonnegut describes his stints as a Chicago journalist and PR man for General Electric in Schenectady, New York; his decision to supplement his income by writing; and his rapid success and evolution into a full-time writer. So, here are his literary roots, a set of stories that reflects their era’s eagerness to turn the horrors of war into anecdote and to equate technology with progress. Unabashedly fablelike, they can be either sly or sweet, sentimental or vaudevillian, but all are quietly subversive…Rich in low-key humor and good old-fashioned morality, Vonnegut’s stories are both wily and tender.” —Booklist


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface by Peter Reed
Introduction
Thanasphere
Mnemonics
Any Reasonable Offer
The Package
The No-Talent Kid
Poor Little Rich Town
Souvenir
The Cruise of the Jolly Roger
Custom-Made Bride
Ambitious Sophomore
Bagombo Snuff Box
The Powder-Blue Dragon
A Present for Big Saint Nick
Unpaid Consultant
Der Arme Dolmetscher
The Boy Who Hated Girls
This Son of Mine
A Night for Love
Find Me a Dream
Runaways
2BR02B
Lovers Anonymous
Hal Irwin’s Magic Lamp