Kurt Vonnegut emerged as a novelist and essayist in the 1960s and penned the classic books Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions before 1980. He is known for his satirical literary style, as well as the science-fiction elements in much of his work. Vonnegut is considered one of the most influential American novelists of the twentieth century. He blended literature with science fiction and humor, and the absurd with pointed social commentary. Vonnegut created his own unique world in each of his novels and filled them with unusual characters, such as the alien race known as the Tralfamadorians in Slaughterhouse-Five.