Player Piano

Player Piano is the first novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, published in 1952. It depicts a dystopia of automation, describing the negative impact it can have on the quality of life. The story takes place in a near-future society that is almost totally mechanized, eliminating the need for human laborers. The widespread mechanization creates conflict between the wealthy upper class, the engineers and managers, who keep society running, and the lower class, whose skills and purpose in society have been replaced by machines. The book uses irony and sentimentality, which were to become hallmarks developed further in Vonnegut’s later works.