Reviews of his latest book, Slaughterhouse-Five, have dragged out the old complaints: Vonnegut is too cute, Vonnegut is precious, Vonnegut is silly. We live in an age of great seriousness.

Scattered across the pages of Kurt Vonnegut's novels are the occasional satirical doodles that offer breaks in the text — a headstone with a bittersweet inscription in "Slaughterhouse-Five," or ...