Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
"His best book," Esquire wrote of Kurt Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan, adding, "he dares not only to ask the ultimate question about the meaning of life, but to answer it." This novel fits into that aspect of the Vonnegut canon that might be classified as science fiction, a quality that once led Time to describe Vonnegut as "George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer ... a zany but moral mad scientist."
The Sirens of Titan was perhaps the novel that began the Vonnegut phenomenon with readers. The story is a fabulous trip, spinning madly through space and time in pursuit of nothing less than a fundamental understanding of the meaning of life. It takes place at a time in the future, when "only the human soul remained terra incognita ... the Nightmare Ages, falling roughly, give or take a few years, between the Second World War and the Third Great Depression."
The villainous and super rich Malachi Constant is offered a chance to journey into the far reaches of outer space, to eventually live on the planet Titan surrounded by three beautiful sirens. There is the proverbial "small print" with this incredible offer, which Constant turns down, setting in motion a fantastic chain of events that only Vonnegut could imagine. The result is an uproarious, freewheeling inquiry into the very reason we exist and about how we participate and matter in the scheme of the universe.
The Sirens of Titan is essential, fundamental Vonnegut, as entertaining as it is questing in search of answers to the mysteries of life. As a work of fiction, it is a sure leap, in terms of craft, over his first novel, Player Piano. His writing here is pared down, more concentrated and graceful, richly in the service of his remarkable ideas. Vonnegut summons greatness for the first time in The Sirens of Titan, where the search for the meaning of existence looks and sounds like a kaleidoscopic dream but leaves the reader with a clear and challenging answer.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: English
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
01 |
zzzz
|
02 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
03
The Sirens of Titan
2006, Dial Press Trade Paperbacks
in English
- Dial Press trade pbk. ed.
0385333498 9780385333498
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
04
Las sirenas de Titán
2004, Minotauro
in Spanish
- 1a ed. en esta colección.
8445075160 9788445075166
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
05 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
06
Sirens of Titan
October 1999, Tandem Library
School & Library Binding
in English
0808520865 9780808520863
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
07 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
08
Sirens of Titan
February 1992, Dell Publishing Company
Mass Market Paperback
in English
5553858232 9785553858230
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
09
The sirens of Titan.
1989, VGSF, Orion Publishing Group, Limited
in English
0575045663 9780575045668
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
10
The sirens of Titan: an original novel
1988, Dell Pub. Co.
in English
- 1st Laurel ed.
0440179483 9780440179481
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
11 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
12
The sirens of Titan
1986, Gollancz, GOLLANCZ, Orion Publishing Group, Limited
in English
0575038195 9780575038196
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
13
Sirens of Titan
September 1985, Doubleday, Dell Publishing Co., inc.
in English
0385294212 9780385294218
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
14 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
15
Sirens of Titan (Coronet Books)
May 1, 1982, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Paperback
in English
- New Ed edition
0340028769 9780340028766
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
16 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
17 |
zzzz
|
18
The Sirens Of Titan
July 1, 1978, Books On Tape
Audio cassette
in English
- UNABRIDGED edition
0736601139 9780736601139
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
19 |
zzzz
|
20 |
zzzz
|
21 |
zzzz
|
22 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
23 |
zzzz
|
24 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
25 |
zzzz
|
26 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
27 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
28 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
29 |
zzzz
|
30 |
eeee
|
31 |
zzzz
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?June 17, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
July 22, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | remove fake subjects |
February 22, 2019 | Edited by sherryjaye | Broke up description into paragraphs |
November 3, 2018 | Edited by sherryjaye | Title case |
October 17, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |