iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Jailbird

Jailbird

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
AuthorKurt Vonnegut
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Novel
PublisherDelacorte Press
Publication date1979
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
ISBNISBN 0-385-28627-9
Jailbird is a novel by Kurt Vonnegut originally published in 1979. Its plot concerns a man recently released from a low security prison. The novel eschews the typical build to a climax and reveals the outcome almost at the very beginning of the book. The novel's subject is Walter Starbuck, who, after being released from prison, merely wishes to get a job and live in moderate contentment.

The topic of Jailbird is mostly corporate America, which runs United States businesses behind the scenes, and the human weaknesses that may bring humanity back down from its capitalist high. The book makes references to actual persons, such as Sacco and Vanzetti, and its characters participate in historic events, such as the Watergate scandal.

Jailbird also features another appearance of Kilgore Trout, a recurring Vonnegut character who writes unpopular science fiction novels.

Plot Synopsis

Walter F. Starbuck, a Havard graduate and son of immigrant parents, was convicted and sent to prison due to his involvement in Watergate. On the first day of his freedom following his 1980 release, Starbuck crosses paths with a former lover, Mary Katherine O'Looney. Although Starbuck does not realize initially, O'Looney is actually the head of RAMJAC, the biggest corporate conglomerate in the Western Hemisphere. The kindness he shows Mary Katherine on this day leads him to be promoted to a vice-presidency position within the corporation. However, within two years, the entire foundation of RAMJAC has disintegrated, and Starbuck is once again shipped back to prison, this time for concealing the now deceased Mary Katherine O'Looney's will.

Works of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
 •  • [ e]
Novels 1950s: Player Piano (1952) • The Sirens of Titan (1959)
1960s: Mother Night (1961) • Cat's Cradle (1963) • God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965) • Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
1970s: Breakfast of Champions (1973) • Slapstick (1976) • Jailbird (1979)
1980s: Deadeye Dick (1982) • Galpagos (1985) • Bluebeard (1987)
1990s: Hocus Pocus (1990) • Timequake (1997)
Story collectionsCanary in a Cathouse (1961) • Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) • Bagombo Snuff Box (1999)
Collected essaysWampeters, Foma and Granfalloons (1974) • Palm Sunday (1981) • Fates Worse than Death (1990) • God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (1999) • A Man Without a Country (2005)
ScriptsHappy Birthday, Wanda June (1970) • Between Time and Timbuktu (1972) • Make Up Your Mind (1993) • Miss Temptation (1993) • L'Histoire du Soldat (1993)
Adaptations
StageWelcome to the Monkey House (1970, 1974) • Sirens of Titan (1974) • Cat's Cradle (1976) • God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1979) • Breakfast of Champions (1984) • Requiem (Stone, Time, and Elements: A Humanist Requiem) (1988) • Slaughterhouse-Five (1996)
FilmHappy Birthday, Wanda June (1971) • Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) • Next Door (1975) • Slapstick of Another Kind (1982) • Mother Night (1996) • Breakfast of Champions (1999)
TelevisionDisplaced Person (1958, 1985) • Between Time and Timbuktu (1972) • EPICAC (1974, 1992) • Who Am I This Time? (1982) • All the King's Horses (1991) • Next Door (1991) • The Euphio Question (1991) • Fortitude (1992) • The Foster Portfolio (1992) • More Stately Mansions (1992) • Harrison Bergeron (1995)
Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Born: November 11 1922(1922--)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died: March 11 2007 (aged 86)
New York, New York, U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.


A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
..... Click the link for more information.
English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
..... Click the link for more information.
novel (from, Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new", "news", or "short story of something new") is today a long prose narrative set out in writing.
..... Click the link for more information.
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers.
..... Click the link for more information.
Dell Publishing was an American publisher of books, magazines, and comic books. It was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr.. During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines.
..... Click the link for more information.
A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather).
..... Click the link for more information.
Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The book covers of such books are without cloth or leather, and are bound, usually, with glue rather than stitches or staples.
..... Click the link for more information.
International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. The ISBN system was created in the United Kingdom, in 1966, by the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith.
..... Click the link for more information.
novel (from, Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new", "news", or "short story of something new") is today a long prose narrative set out in writing.
..... Click the link for more information.
Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Born: November 11 1922(1922--)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died: March 11 2007 (aged 86)
New York, New York, U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1940s  1950s  1960s  - 1970s -  1980s  1990s  2000s
1976 1977 1978 - 1979 - 1980 1981 1982

Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins.

..... Click the link for more information.
The climax (or "turning point") of a narrative work is its point of highest tension or drama in which the solution is given.

Classical works

In classical culture, perhaps reflecting in part low literacy levels, analysis of fictional narratives focused on drama, and
..... Click the link for more information.
For the 2002 album by rock band Boston, see .


Corporate America is an informal phrase describing the for-profit world of corporations within the United States not under government ownership.
..... Click the link for more information.
Economic systems

Ideologies and Theories
Primitive communism
Capitalist economy
Corporate economy
Fascist economy
Laissez-faire
Mercantilism
Natural economy
Social market economy
Socialist economy
Communist economy


..... Click the link for more information.
Ferdinando Nicola Sacco (April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were two Italian-born American laborers and anarchists, who were tried, convicted and executed via electrocution on August 23, 1927 in
..... Click the link for more information.
Watergate is a general term for a series of political scandals, which began with the arrest of five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., office/apartment complex and hotel called the Watergate on June 17, 1972.
..... Click the link for more information.
Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut. Although it is said that he is a fictionalization of the real author Theodore Sturgeon, Vonnegut called Kilgore his "alter ego" and "somebody he used to be.
..... Click the link for more information.
worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.


Science fiction (abbreviated SF or sci-fi
..... Click the link for more information.
Watergate is a general term for a series of political scandals, which began with the arrest of five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., office/apartment complex and hotel called the Watergate on June 17, 1972.
..... Click the link for more information.
The RAMJAC Corporation is a fictional multinational conglomerate, or megacorp, featured in several novels by Kurt Vonnegut. In Jailbird, the company at its height owns 19 percent of the United States, twice as large as the next largest conglomerate in the "Free World".
..... Click the link for more information.
list of works that does not follow the Manual of Style for lists of works (often, but not always, due to being in reverse-chronological order) and may need cleanup. See also .
The following is a complete list of literary works by the late author Kurt Vonnegut.
..... Click the link for more information.
Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut Jr
Born: November 11 1922(1922--)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Died: March 11 2007 (aged 86)
New York, New York, U.S.
..... Click the link for more information.
player piano is a piano containing a pneumatic mechanism that plays on the piano action pre-programmed music via perforated paper rolls. The true player piano was designed to be a fully interactive musical experience rather than merely an automatic instrument and hence they are
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section may contain excessive or improper use of copyrighted images and/or audio files.
Please review the use of non-free media according to policy and guidelines, correct any violations, then remove this tag

..... Click the link for more information.
Mother Night

Cover art of first edition paperback
Author Kurt Vonnegut
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Fawcett Publications/Gold Medal Books
Publication date 1961
..... Click the link for more information.
Cat's cradle is a well known series of string figures. The name of the entire game, the specific figures, their order, and the names of the figures vary. Versions of this game have been found in indigenous cultures all over the world--from the Arctic to the Equatorial zones.
..... Click the link for more information.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Cover of first edition (Hardcover)
Author Kurt Vonnegut
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Dell
Publication date 1965
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter