Slaughterhouse-Five, or — The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Reimagined by Vincent Valdez

The Arion Press announces Slaughterhouse-Five, or — The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

An artist book with twenty original drawings in black and white and with color washes by Vincent Valdez issued in both Fine Press and Deluxe editions in San Francisco, Slaughterhouse-Five is Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s darkly comic novel of survival and sanity in times of utter despair. And, like any enduring work of serious literature, it invites fresh appraisals and analysis.

Since its release in 1969 in a modest first printing of ten thousand copies, the novel has appeared in twenty languages, sold more than eight million copies worldwide, and inspired critically acclaimed adaptations both in film and on stage. Its seamless blending of memoir, allegory, protest, gallows humor, pathos, and gee-whiz time travel offers new insights with every reading, inspiring provocative visual interpretations from all cultural and generational divides.

It is in this spirit of intellectual engagement that Arion Press is pleased to announce the publication of a fine press edition of Slaughterhouse-Five featuring twenty original drawings, some with washes of ink, by Vincent Valdez, a daring artist whose social consciousness and alert eye for telling detail have won him acclaim for his uncompromising engagement with complex subjects. In the rich tradition o what is often called narrative art, Valdez embraces large, contemporary subjects in expansive ways. Similarly, Kurt Vonnegut possessed an innate sense of observation, capable of articulating both the best and the worst in people, and Valdez’s art complements those efforts.