As of 1987 Kurt Vonnegut's work includes twelve novels, a play and a television play, two collections of short stories, two collections of essays, and a miscellany of uncollected shorter pieces of fiction and nonfiction. He is himself the subject of a number of books, critical articles, theses, and dissertations, as well as many reviews, interviews, and features in the popular press. Although he began publishing in 1950, it was really in the 1960s that he made his impact. His immediate appeal was to youth, partly because he espoused pacifism in the era of the Vietnam War. Besides peace, Vonnegut speaks of everyone's need for treatment with decency, respect, and compassion in a lonely, incomprehensible world. While his plots often seem pessimistic they are nevertheless funny, and he has been called a black humorist. He also has been tagged a science-fiction writer, a satirist, and a surrealist, but perhaps he might better be seen as using all of these techniques.
