''Jailbird'' is a novel by

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

, published in 1979. The book is regarded as Kurt Vonnegut's " Watergate novel." The novel is narrated by protagonist Walter F. Starbuck, a man recently released from a minimum-security prison in Georgia after serving time for his small role in the

Watergate Scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

. ''Jailbird'' is written as a standard memoir, revealing Starbuck's present situation, then coming full circle to tell the story of his first two days after being released from prison. Through Starbuck, ''Jailbird'' discusses the history of the

American labor movement The labor history of the United States describes the history of organized labor, US labor law, and more general history of working people, in the United States. Beginning in the 1930s, unions became important allies of the Democratic Party. T ...

, alongside corporate America, McCarthyism, the

Nixon administration Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment because of the Watergate Scanda ...

, and Watergate. ''Jailbird'' includes a cameo by

Kilgore Trout Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut. In Vonnegut's work, Trout is a notably unsuccessful author of paperback science fiction novels. "Trout" was inspired by the name of the author Theodore Sturgeon (Vonnegut's ...

, a recurring Vonnegutian character known for writing science fiction novels and short stories. Unlike other versions of the character, this "Kilgore Trout" is revealed to be the pseudonym of a character in prison, deliberately contradicting the autobiographical details of Trout's life in other Vonnegut novels. This is an example of Vonnegut using the

unreliable narrator An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unr ...

narration device.

Literary significance and reception

The '' New York Times Book Review'' called ''Jailbird'' Vonnegut's " Sermon on the Mount." '' Kirkus Reviews'' described the book as " t top-drawer Vonnegut...but...there's enough of the author's narrative zip to keep fans happy even while the novel fizzles into foolishness." In a 2013 piece, '' Jacobin'' called Jailbird Vonnegut's "most extensive exploration of labor" and "Vonnegut's clearest articulation of sympathies with the labor movement." Vonnegut himself gave the novel a grade of "A" when grading all of his published works in his book ''

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...

''.

References

1979 American novels Novels by Kurt Vonnegut Works about the Watergate scandal {{1970s-novel-stub