Kurt Vonnegut, Author, Dies at 84

[JohnLocke]

Source: New York Times

Kurt Vonnegut, Author, Dies at 84
Kurt Vonnegut’s dark comic talent and urgent moral vision caught the temper of his times.
By Dinitia Smith--The New York Times
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
----
Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.
His death was reported by Morgan Entrekin, a longtime family friend, who said Mr. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago.
Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States.
Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence: Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well?
(...)
----
Read the rest here.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html&OQ=_rQ3D2Q26hpQ3DQ26adxnnlQ3D1Q26orefQ3DsloginQ26adxnnlxQ3D1176347214-mANKS76Y1K7vZ8BY77edKw&OP=5bf499a8Q2FQ274cQ24Q27Q3ATQ51wQ2ATTMFQ27FQ7BQ7B(Q27Q7BUQ27ss

---

A great loss.

He had suffered a fall recently and could not give the 2007 McFadden Memorial Lecture, as scheduled.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070411/LOCAL/704110568/1196

[htuttle]

Aww...FOCK!

Better days, my friend. Better days...

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. FUCK!

And Cheney, Brittney Spears, and Thomas Kinkade keep tickin' along...


:cry:

[Botany]

97. Thomas Kinkade??????

So you don't like kitsche crap?

my ex in laws loved his crap.

[keroro gunsou]

100. Thomas Kinkade is....

Thomas Kinkade is to fine art what spam is to fine dining. Processed recycled crap that may at first glance seem harmless enough, but always gets you in the end....

For me, Breakfast of Champions was my first exposure to KVjr.... though I was only 10 at the time when I saw the book cover in my local library. I asked a librarian how some guy got to write a book about Wheaties breakfast ceral and got paid for it, and she broke the silence laughing her ass off. Years later I read it in high school, and it really wasn't about ceral....

Still liked Slaughterhouse 5 the best...

[Botany]

101. Forget fine art ... what about just "art?"

I remember being in a mall with people who were pulled into a
Thomas Kinkade store as if moths to a flame.

The store had a "sign in" book where you could say what feelings
you had when looking @ a Kinkade .....

I wanted to write .... vomit.

Oh, Mr V. I heard you speak and read your books ... Thank You!

[wicket]

127. I was 12 or 13 when I read Slaughterhouse

What an awesome book, and author. He will be sorely missed.

[midnight]

207. I too read Staughterhouse many years ago, and as dysfuntional

as the family situation was-I found humor in the ridiculous.

[PDJane]

2. Damn........that's really sad news.

[havocmom]

3. Sad he didn't live to see the junta turned out

Many thanks, Mr. Vonnegut, for the many truths told so eloquently.

RIP

[mike_c]

4. RIP Kurt-- stay away from mirrors, wherever you are now....

Damn.

[Radio_Lady]

5. "...And such to all men... (and women...)" R.I.P., Kurt. You wrote well.

[BeyondGeography]

6. He had a great run...and what a writer

"Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future."

Thank you, sir.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. He was a victim of circumstance

...as are we all.

The world is a darker place today. His passing is a great loss to the human race.

[evlbstrd]

8. God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut.

The comparison to Twain is apt.

[southerncrone]

9. Another Great One Gone, but his works will live on forever.

[saltpoint]

10. Would that Kurt Vonnegut had been an uncle at all my family reunions

when I was growing up.

If the man had nieces and nephews and so on, across a large extended family tree, I envy every one of them.

I will miss this man, this writer.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

160. Odd you should say that...He was my neighbor's uncle

and when I heard the news this morning my first thought was a reminder to myself to call him later today with my condolences, as they were pretty close. I will save these threads and print them out later so that he can see how loved his uncle was in our community.

[saltpoint]

213. That is eerie, tinfoilinfor2005. Your impulse to phone up that

neighbor sounds like a mighty good one to me.

also, I think you are right -- Vonnegut's readers loved him. It's clear from many threads on DU and elsewhere today that Vonnegut meant a great deal to a hell of a lot of people.

[More Than A Feeling]

11. I first read his work in Junior High, the short story "Harrison Bergeron"

Welcome to the Monkey House...an amazing piece of work.

I never knew you Mr. Vonnegut, but you made me laugh, a lot. Thank you.

[JohnLocke]

12. Kick (nt).

[uppityperson]

13. RIP

[Up2Late]

14. Looks like he had a few fans here. Three (3) nearly simultaneous post and all getting hits!

He was great though.:(

[JohnLocke]

15. All within four minutes of each other.

First was mine....saw it on NYT and was surprised...

RIP.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

16. Kurt Vonnegut, Writer of Classics of the American Counterculture, Dies at 84

Source: New York Times

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

His death was reported by Morgan Entrekin, a longtime family friend, who said Mr. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago.

:(

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1176347214-mANKS76Y1K7vZ8BY77edKw

[mike_c]

17. oh my-- RIP Kurt....

Wow.

[wildhorses]

18. may he rest in peace

:patriot:

[Rick Myers]

19. Drawn by the Sirens of Titan!!!

RIP Kurt... :toast:

[solara]

32. Sirens of Titan...one of my very favorites

ahh well I can only imagine that he is on an exciting new adventure. What a spirit..what a mind, what a legacy...

His existence certainly enriched mine

:cry:

[customerserviceguy]

156. Yes, Sirens

was my favorite Vonnegut book. What an incredible imagination!

[lies and propaganda]

189. that and Galapagos were my favorite...

I tell the story of that novel and it gives me chills, amazing man, beyond brilliant.

[Goblinmonger]

20. So it goes.

Another literary great leaves us too early.

[RufusTFirefly]

23. That should be his epitaph

A wonderful wit, writer, and irascible American socialist. He was an inspiration.

[Goblinmonger]

25. That would be so appropriate

I love that novel. Do you watch Lost? They have explored a Billy Pilgrimesque character.

[RufusTFirefly]

30. Unlike Vonnegut,

... who praised both M.A.S.H. and Law and Order, I watch zero TV. But I do like the George Roy Hill adaptation of Slaughterhouse Five. I read Mother Night, of course, but still haven't seen the film version of that one.

[YOY]

163. It doesn't do the book justice

but is not a horrible watch.

Mother Night (And Howard W. Campbell Junior when he cameos in other books) is my favorite Vonnegut. Nick Nolte (I think) plays Campbell and does a mediocre job in the film.

[Ferret Annica]

94. Actually in Wikiquote kurt is quoted as saying:

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut

[truedelphi]

162. Oh the music quote is pure beauty. n/t

[Patsy Stone]

24. Hi ho.

"It is a thing I often say these days: 'Hi ho.' It is a kind of senile hiccup. I have lived too long. Hi ho."

:(

[Patsy Stone]

21. How horrible...

I loved that man. I've read everything he's written at least twice. Some five and six times.

I will miss you, Kurt.

RIP.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

22. Great Vonnegut Quote

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center."

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/k/kurtvonneg132753.html

[MissMillie]

140. so sad to say goodbye to Kilgore Trout

Kurt, I truly cherished your writing. You truly added value to the human race.

[Botany]

26. So what will I do with all my Ice nine now?

Thanx Kurt,

You were one of the best.

[FloridaJudy]

178. Lie on your back

with your finger upraised to the sky and touch it to your lips.

Sorry. I couldn't resist.
Has anyone visited Vonnegut's web-site today. There's a beautiful and heart-breaking graphic.

[truedelphi]

184. Thanks for the share n/t

[slampoet]

27. When he was 76 He appeared on the Charlie Rose Show.

After being told that everything that Kurt Vonnegut had ever written was now in print again, Rose asked "Are you coming out with anything new in the future?"

Vonnegut answered something like " Oh no!!! Everything i ever wrote is in print! I win!!"



Vonnegut did win.

[Tektonik]

28. RIP

:(

[MannyGoldstein]

29. We Will Do

We do, doodley do, doodley do, doodley do,
What we must, muddily must, muddily must, muddily must;
Muddily do, muddily do, muddily do, muddily do,
Until we bust, bodily bust, bodily bust, bodily bust.

Adios to a fellow Cornellian (a granfalloon, I know).
A man who strongly influenced me.
And comforted me.
Hi Ho.
(Can I say "Ho" anymore?)

[juno jones]

31. Cat's Cradle

Helped me see the foma, granfalloon and karasses of the world. Good bye.

[ixion]

126. "Fish got to swim, bird got to fly..."

"man got to sit and wonder why, why, why."

Cats Cradle is one of his best, although you could say that about so much of his work.

[barb162]

33. Rest in Peace, Mr. Vonnegut

[fryguy]

34. Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

Source: NY Times

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?hp

[Erika]

35. He was a true visionary

He will be missed.

[Warren Stupidity]

36. Oh so sad. A great one.

And true to the end.

[ikojo]

37. We've lost a great one

sadness.

[Tunkamerica]

38. My first favorite author

[givemebackmycountry]

39. NO! NO! NO!

GOD DAMMIT!

While the country is consumed over IMUS and Anna Nicole THIS happens?
This is to me the greatest loss of 2007.

A Man without a Country.
I sure hope he's found one where ever he's at right now.

Kicked/Nominated/Recommended/ and every damn thing else!!!

[Berry Cool]

51. Yeah, how dare the world go on spinning

and people pay attention to anything else when someone you like has died? :sarcasm:

I mean, I too am sorry, but come on.

[Twillig]

59. Is it so hard to keep your mouth shut?

[mark414]

89. christ

his fucking body is still warm - if you're gonna be an asshole then just mutter it yourself

[file83]

52. That's exactly what I said...

"No! No! No!"

KV has assured his place in history. A truly great mind.

[Pachamama]

86. A Man Without a Country....

A fantastic must read for any DUer if you haven't read it....I remember about a year back seeing an interview with Kurt Vonnegut and him talking about this book and the events going on with the Bush Administration. I immediately went out and got the book....

God Dammit is right....why are all the good ones dieing of late....Molly Ivins, now Kurt...

Sigh...and all the media can do is talk about IMUS and ANS....ugh....

A great loss indeed.... :cry:

[Jack Rabbit]

40. RIP

[DaveJ]

41. I hope his word will live on

His goal and career were aimed at establishing immortal written word with truth like:

"By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? ... Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas in December."

I hope we can maintain the legacy.

[Richard D]

42. Deep sadness

Such a loss. One of my favorites.

[Gregorian]

43. Damn.

A brilliant ray of light is gone. All of that wisdom. The world is changed.

What a huge loss.

[Hun Joro]

44. Oh, no. God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

[bemildred]

45. And so it goes.

RIP Mr. Vonnegut.

[no_hypocrisy]

46. Awwwwwwwww!!! What a shame.

"Welcome to the Monkeyhouse" is one of my favorite reads and I always tore through his essays on Commondreams.org.

RIP, sir.

[IllLib]

47. bummer.

a visionary. Sad to see him go.

[EFerrari]

48. I can't stand this.

:cry:

[bleever]

49. Loved him.

R.I.P./O.B.O.

[philly_bob]

50. Goodbye Billy Pilgrim, Humanist

Unique writing style.

Wry (and sad) observer of human stupidity to the end.

Shame he had to die with Bush still in office.

[saltpoint]

53. It's such a kick in the stomach to lose Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

One of the great spirits of our time, and one of the best progressives, too.

And damned funny to boot.

[caligirl]

54. Sad day for us. He raised his sisters kids, she died of cancer and her

husband, on his way to visit her in the hospital, died when a bridge collapsed as he drove over it. He took her three sons and the dog and another family member took the infant. His sister was 42 when she passed away. what a great man. I have to call my son to tell him, he will be very sad about this.

[Twillig]

55. A man who cared.

I remember watching a C-span event with Vonnegut and J. Heller in the 90's and they were asked about the future and Heller basically said: 'I won't be there, doesn't matter to me.'

Vonnegut blanched.

If you have read him, you'd know to expect it, and to share in his disappointment in Heller.

I first read a work of Vonnegut whilst a Tank gunner in Desert Storm. Paperback books were passed around like hot potatoes in that boring field exercise. Everybody had something to share. What wound up in my hands was the gift of literature. All I'd known before was shit of differing varieties and popularity. None of it lasting more than a poor sitcom in my memory.

What I read was Blue Beard. What I found was something else. I found a fellow soldier. This man knew, and he didn't lie about it.

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut.

[Bicoastal]

76. Interesting....

Catch-22 will always be one of my favorite books, but I'm somehow not surprised by Heller's attitude.

Both men understood all too well the inherent insanity of war, politics, and modern life in general...but only Vonegut could also comprehend the possibility of change. Heller, like Yossarian, simply gave up at the end.

All of Kurt's books contain short, profound moments of wistful beauty and hopefulness in between the black humor, violence, and despair. He will be missed.

[dweller]

56. Potweet?

:cry:

sigh
dp

[bobbie]

57. Wow, one of the greats

Truly one of the greatest writers ever.

Damn...

[flyarm]

58. sooo sad..he will be missed by me and many many others...rip dear man!! eom

[stellanoir]

60. 84 is the best time to die.

bless his soul.

[NMDemDist2]

61. another great voice gone

RIP Mr. V

:patriot:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

62. Oh, damn.

:cry: MKJ

edited to add: Cat's Cradle got me through a tough time.

Damn.

[burrowowl]

63. Slaughter House Five

An Awakening at the age of 15.
I love you Kutrt, RIP!
The Dresden Fire Bombings, REMEMBER!

[Tom Joad]

82. It's one of those novels that changed my life, for damn sure.

[entanglement]

64. Very sad news - RIP

n/t

[intheflow]

65. I'm glad I discovered Kurt Vonnegut young.

His writing has inspired me in innumerable ways. Slaughterhouse Five was the first war novel that engaged me in a spiritual way. I have used his non-fiction writings on the nature of war and peace during religious services. His 1984 essay, "War Preparers Anonymous," helped catapult me into majoring in peace studies in undergrad and seminary.

Just a year ago, he gave a public interview at Ohio State which started thus:

Vonnegut takes an easy chair across from Prof. Manuel Luis Martinez, a poet and teacher of writing. He grabs Martinez and semi-whispers into his ear (and the mike) “What can I say here?”

Martinez urges candor.

“Well,” says Vonnegut, “I just want to say that George W. Bush is the syphilis president.”

The students seem to agree.

“The only difference between Bush and Hitler,” Vonnegut adds, “is that Hitler was elected.”

“You all know, of course, that the election was stolen. Right here.”

I will miss Kurt Vonnegut. His unusual mind and his speaking truth to power enriched my life right up to the end of his life. :(

[chknltl]

71. What a great quote

"The only difference between Bush and Hitler is that Hitler was elected". Is that a direct quote?
Is it transcripted anywhere? It seems to me that one can do far worse than quoting the great Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and this is a great one.

[intheflow]

84. I'll bet OSU has the event on tape

in a library even if it hasn't been transcribed. I got the quote out of a report of the speech. But I'd think it would be easy enough to verify.

[chknltl]

90. Fair enough

Not his most famous quote by far but this quote by a man so beloved as Kurt Vonnegut Jr should have great legs in our politically charged atmosphere. Bookmarked in case I need to research this quote further. Thanks intheflow

[ProudDad]

112. "Hitler was elected" is not true

but the truth is eerily similar to the chimp.

Hitler was also selected...as the shrub was...by the capitalists who actually rule...

http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0403a.asp

[EFerrari]

73. He kicked facist @ss to the end.

:(

[Bicoastal]

66. If only he knew that CNN and Fox News...

...haven't even MENTIONED his death on their websites, due to protracted coverage of bigoted AM radio hosts and high profile rape cases.

I'm sure he'd have something cynical, yet dryly comic to say about that. At least he, like Molly Ivins, died with the knowledge that Americans were finally beginning to turn on Bush, Cheney and co en masse.

[chknltl]

67. I just saw him on John Stewert a few months back

He will be missed. :cry:

[Bicoastal]

78. I remember that episode...

I think everyone, including Jon, was waiting for him to call Bush some funny names, but he (Kurt) was too mature for that. He essentially said that our current politicians had a long way to go to win back the public's trust, Republicans AND Democrats alike.

Maybe he was right...

[sutz12]

93. Wasn't that where...

He called humankind a virus on planet earth, and she had a fever (global warming) and was about to get rid of all of ua?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

141. I remember that interview, his analogy was chilling. I believe he described it as the earth's

immune system fighting us.

The reason I remember this, aside from the harsh analogy, was Jon's reaction. He didn't have a quick response and was momentarily taken aback. Mr. Vonnegut was probably one the more difficult interviews he did, since the author did not volley back and forth with him, but instead, bluntly spoke his own mind.

Mr. Vonnegut had some hard truths about which to speak. It was pretty memorable. MKJ

[madmax]

68. RIP Mr. Vonnegut

Loved the man. :cry:

[Crunchy Frog]

69. NO!!!!!

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Kurovski]

70. Oh no.

A great voice.

And ...he made me laugh.

Rest in peace, Kurt.

[Solly Mack]

72. Damn

:(

[Redneck Socialist]

74. So it goes...

:cry:

RIP Mr. Vonnegut.

[progressoid]

83. So it goes...

[Neoma]

122. Best comment here.

[Blue_Tires]

75. RIP

a very very sad day:cry:

[enki23]

77. i met my girlfriend in a apartment building where he (supposedly) once lived for a time

in black's gaslight village in iowa city, iowa, where we were both living for a little while, for different reasons. his residency might have been apocryphal. but if you ever had good look around the place, and you'd be pretty sure he'd at least visited it in his day. we listened to him narrate his most recent book on one of the last long drives from louisiana to california that we used to make a couple times a year. "man without a country." i wish i could tell him he could keep living in mine.

old kurt's up in heaven now....

he'd like that joke.

[grace0418]

79. Oh, this is terrible.

RIP Kurt. You will be sorely missed.

[Tom Joad]

80. He gave us so much. The Mark Twain of our time.

[intheflow]

85. That's a great literary comparision.

He was indeed our Twain. :thumbsup:

[Joe Bacon]

81. :-(

another irreplaceable loss.

[Big_Mike]

87. No. It was Breakfast of Champions for me!

Granted it was the mid 70s, but BoC was his clarion call to me. Anyone who thought in such a manner was someone to listen to. Even then ('75) his books were part of our allowed reading list for American Literature.

Godspeed, Mr. Vonnegut.

[daleo]

88. That's a shame

I read a lot of his books, although it was a while back. He was a great humanist.

[Up2Late]

91. K & Re-R

Everyone who Recommended the other posts get to give a sad re-R. :grouphug:

[Silver Gaia]

92. Oh Kurt... I will miss you so.

n/t

[Parrcrow]

95. So it goes...

...:cry:

[Ferret Annica]

96. The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore...

... was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.

[moondust]

218. Good luck on Tralfamadore, Billy!

:cry:

[RoyGBiv]

98. Dammit ...

Just ... dammit.

I met him once. Shook his hand. Oozed intellect.

Goodbye, Kurt.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

99. From Cat's Cradle: Someday someday this crazy world

Will have to end
And our God will take back things
That he to us did lend
And if on that sad day, you wish to
Scold our God
Why go right ahead and scold Him
He'll just smile and nod.


I'm still, at heart, a Bokononist.

[left is right]

102. Even at 84 he died too soon

the world needed his sweet soul, especially now. But I think I would be thinking the same if he had lived another 50 years. May God grant us another writer of his caliber--and soon

[Itchinjim]

103. So It Goes.....

God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

[Vidar]

104. I hope you find your way to some worlds of your imagination,

Mr. Vonnegut.They are more worthy & interesting than the one you've left behind.

[Bhaisahab]

105. oh no no no :(

RIP Mr Vonnegut, sir. You will be missed, and what you left behind cherished.

[northofdenali]

106. Mr. Vonnegut, enjoy!

Thanks for being here for all of us who needed you. :cry:

[Comicstripper]

107. So it goes.

[Bonobo]

108. I met him here in town an few years back.

I knew he was living here and I thought I might someday cross paths with him, but I was unprepared, of course, when it really happened.
He was standing there, rumpled and smoking a cigarette, outside the shoe store next to the chinese/japanese restaurant I had just walked out of.
Our eyes met for a brief instant and I fumbled desperately for something to say!
How could I tell this Giant in my life, this man who`s ideas had blown me away, who`s world view itself was so awesomely instructive in my life, what he meant to me!?
...I stammered... "Have you tried the Dragon Roll here? It's really something!".
He shrugged...

But If you looked at him and me standing there next to each other in a certain way and painted it, it would have looked like two vertical bands of light standing there...

[bluevoter4life]

109. Cat's Cradle- Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb

The world has lost a great novelist and satirist. His brave style of writing brought forth the political and social injustices facing the country, both in the past, and the present. Mr. Vonnegut, know you were my favorite author, an icon in the literary world. You will be missed.



RIP Kurt Vonnegut
(1922-2007)

"Just because some of us can read and write and do a little mathematics, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe" - The final sentence of Hocus Pocus

[gardenista]

110. May you join the ultimate karass, Mr. V

If there is anyone perfectly suited to a deep appreciation of the afterlife, if there is one, it is you.

And even if it's a big nothing, you will pulse on.

[ProudDad]

111. The world is a lot emptier tonight

I was very lucky. Many years ago, back when Kurt was still committing suicide by cigarette and preparing to sue Phillip Morris for false advertising, my daughter bought me a ticket to see him at Davis. He was, as usual, brilliant. I'll forever treasure the memory of hearing him and seeing him in person.

I've also read and re-read all of his books (except the last, which I shall procure asap).

I think Kurt and the Dalai Lama are the two people I've seen who could fill a room with warmth and humor with seemingly no effort. (Vonnegut would have hated that last sentence).

Goodnight, Mr. Vonnegut...

[EFerrari]

116. I don't know. The Dalai Lama's sense of humor must rank in

the Top Ten. :)

I'm so mad he's gone or off doing whatever under the night canopy. I want a replay -- of it all.

[proud patriot]

201. Wow I totally forgot about that

:-)

[tom_paine]

113. "Kurt is now up in heaven..."

To anyone who read his books, and most particularly his forewards, know that this was the wry joke (at least to a freethinking humanist like Vonnegut was and so many DUers are) of what he wanted people to say of him after his passing.

That was our Mark Twain, to the very end!

I will add something else: God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut.

This was a man who added so much more than almost all other authors give their society, which is the intrinsic value of their stories. Not that tyhis is a bad thing at all, to bring joy to thousands or millions, but Kurt did so much more.

He gave us a perspective and a humor that is almost wholly unique and new in the world, at least it was when he started his career in the 50s. Does anyone realize just how damned difficult it is to be as close to A TRUE ORIGINAL in a wrold of six billion and rising?

That was just wat Mr. Vonnegut was. Visionary, prophet (Hocus Pocus reads like a roadmap to BushPutinist thought) and contributor to his society.

You will be sorely missed in a world, Kurt, that so desperately needs more Vonnguts, more Carl Sagans, to offset the approaching darkness.

[FVZA_Colonel]

118. Didn't he say that after Isaac Asimov died and he became the headm of...

ahh damn it, I forgot the organization; it was a humanist one, I know that. He mentioned this in a forward to one of his books, and I think he also mentioned that he actually did believe it, at least at the time.

[Burma Jones]

132. He's up in Heaven.......

chuckle......

[IcyPeas]

114. Kilgore Trout is what I named my cat.

The highest honor.

[Usrename]

121. Can we say RIP to him too?

Ever read "Venus on the Halfshell" by Kilgore Trout? Has to be a pen name.

[Bridget Burke]

136. "Kilgore Trout" sounds suspiciously like "Theodore Sturgeon"....

Sturgeon was a great SF writer. Which meant that his books were the cheesy paperbacks in the back of the store. (Over the years, the genre got a bit more respect.)

Trout was, I believe, KV's tribute to the fine writers who did not make it out of the ghetto of SF.

[Usrename]

187. Cheesy sci-fi paperback is a good description.

A one-eyed protagonist with a pet owl that happened to swoop in and eat his eye after it got poked out in a fight. I would add well-written and very imaginative to the description.

I've never heard of Theodore Sturgeon, but I recall the photo of the author on the back cover was hilarious. A bushy beard and a hat, and all you could see was a nose. Theodore Sturgeon, Kilgore Trout, hehe, am I being mocked?

[Bridget Burke]

196. That's the problem. Too few people ever heard of Theodore Sturgeon.

Although Sturgeon is well known among readers of classic science-fiction anthologies (at the height of his popularity in the 1950s he was the most anthologized author alive) and much respected by critics (John Clute writes in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: "His influence upon writers like Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany was seminal, and in his life and work he was a powerful and generally liberating influence in post-WWII US sf"), he is not much known among the general public and won comparatively few awards (though it must be noted that his best work was published before the establishment and consolidation of the leading genre awards, while his later production was scarcer and weaker).

He was listed as a primary influence of the much more famous Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut had stated that his character Kilgore Trout was based on Theodore Sturgeon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon

Much of Vonnegut's work could be called Science Fiction, but he avoided being pigeonholed.

[ProudDad]

216. It was actually Phillip Jose Farmer!?!?!

and I have a copy of the 2 consecutive issues of Fantasy and Science Fiction that printed it originally:

"WARNING: At the end of this book you will find the Definitive Answer to the Ultimate Question.
Simon Wagstaff is the Space Wanderer, a seeker of truth and electric banjo player who narrowly escapes the Deluge that destroys Earth when he happens upon an abandoned Chinese spaceship, the Hwang Ho. A man without a planet, he gains immortality from an elixer drunk during a sexual interlude with a cat-like alien queen in heat. Now, with his pet owl, his dog Anubis and a sexy robot companion, Simon charts a 3,000-year course to the most distant corners of a multiverse full of surprises to seek out the answers to the questions no one can seem to answer."

http://www.xs4all.nl/~rnuninga/NovCol/NCvoths.htm

[minkyboodle]

115. really awful news

I hope that when he is remembered in print and on the news
that people remember that he was not only one of the greatest
writers in the last 50 years. He also saw this criminal
absurd W presidency for what it truly was and wasn't afraid to
speak out about it. RIP :(

[jobycom]

117. RIP, Mr. Vonnegut. You lived a life worth living. nt

[FVZA_Colonel]

119. It is truly my hope and wish that he is up in Heaven right now, kicking it back with Mark Twain,

both of them with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a fine cigar in the other while they share their various stories about the absurdity of life and the human race.

[enki23]

166. well, he isn't. though he'd find the joke amusing if he were alive

rolling in the aisles.

[Trajan]

120. See the Cat ? ....

See the Cradle ? ....

I have at times posted some of the Tenets of Bokonon here .... and I am SO sad this great one has passed ....

Hopefully now; To lie down on his back, resting his head on his history book at the top of Mount McCabe, thumbing his nose at 'You Know Who' ....

Good bye, you crazy old bastard .... I adore you ....

[REP]

123. So It Wasn't "Suicide By Cigarette" As He Had Been Planning

Someone had the last laugh there, Mr Vonnegut. Hi ho.

[xchrom]

124. good night sweet prince.

your voice in this world will be well remembered and greatly greatly missed.

you are gone from us too soon.

[ixion]

125. Vonnegut was a credit to his species, one of the all-time great novelists, and a personal favorite

of mine. He will be missed. :-( :cry:


Go easy into the night, Kilgore. Your work here is done. See you on Tralfamador! :hi:

[City Lights]

128. Oh nooooo!

Rest in peace, Mr. Vonnegut...:cry:

[sendero]

129. Probably my favorite author..

... rest in peace.

[Orsino]

130. The comparisons to Twain are apt.

Both writers shared a savage intolerance for bullshit.
Vonnegut will be missed, too.

[Kolesar]

131. Kurt Vonnegut made me realize that the 8th Air Force bombing campaign was a tragedy

I grew up idolizing the men of my father's generation and was enthralled by the technological and, yes, graceful airplanes that they flew in. After reading Slaughterhouse Five and seeing the film of it and other writings over the decades I developed a different view. The bombers were a potent weapon but they certainly did not fit into any role that would help us win the war. Since we really could not do precision bombing of the military and infrastructure targets, General Lemay and his British counterpart "Bomber Harris" concocted a scheme to firebomb the civilian population. Pure vengence

The bombing of Dresden was a particular horror. We annihilated the east German city knowing that the Red Army would soon be there and we wanted a way of demonstrating what our air power could do should Stalin cross us after the end of this war. The fires were so intense that the masonry buildings collapsed into the streets forming a contiguous wasteland of rubble. Man, you're some kind of sinner.

The Eighth Air Force had its own tragedy. The young air crews were enticed into that service by the appeal of the mighty airplanes. The reality was a cruel joke. The loss rate on the average mission was so high that one could not realistically expect to finish their tour of duty. "Just leave your trunk packed", the veterans would say to the new arrivals at the airfields in East Anglia, "they're going to be packing it up and sending it back to your mother before too long". Thirty thousand men never returned--about a tenth of our mortality in that war.

The Children's Crusade

[Bridget Burke]

137. My father & two uncles were 8th Air Force Vets.

My father was shot down over France, but evaded capture thanks to the Resistance. (This was early in the war--the target was a bridge.)

So he went back to the USA & taught navigation in Texas. Where he met my mother. He was called back to active duty when I was 6 weeks old & died in the crash of an RB-36 when I was 4. Mother brought me & my younger sibs back to Texas.

So it goes.

[Kolesar]

182. We ask a lot of our uniformed service-people

We have to do our fighting for freedom, too. I don't lament it.

[Burma Jones]

133. A sad day in our house.......

Thanks for every word you wrote and for not dying young. Who's next?

[Zhade]

134. DAMN IT.

Another human genius lost.

[bleedingheart]

135. I met him when I was in college at a lecture that he gave at Carnegie Music Hall

it was amazing.

Rest in peace Kurt.

[DemoTex]

138. Thanks for pushing the edge of the envelope, Kurt Vonnegut.

RIP dear soul, and thanks from the heart. You made a difference. You had the right stuff that so many, many writers lack. Thanks for enlightening my life.


Notice Vonnegut's BartCop sticker! He was ours and we were his.

[symbolman]

139. Who needs Heaven when you have an

Chrono-synclastic infundibulum?

"The Universe is so large, there are many possible ways to observe it, all of which are equally valid, because people from across the Universe can't communicate with each other (and therefore can't get into an argument). The chrono-synclastic infundibula are places where these "ways to be right" coexist."

He's in a much better place than we are, always has been, and always Will Be.

I'm probably more sad than many as I've written a book and was hoping to get it to him - was zeroing in on him through his pals and mine.. One of my dreams was to have him do the foreword, and Ralph Steadman to do the cover art.. guess I'd better send it off to Steadman fairly quick.

Damn.

I hope they bury him with an Honor Guard, so we get to hear the drums play,

"Rent a tent, rent a tent, rent a tent.."

RIP, my mentor and master of the word, you'd be more sorely missed if it wasn't for the fact that I Believe what you wrote, so instead, I'll see you sooner, later, or before :)

[al bupp]

176. The Chrono-synclastic Infundibulum

I'd totally forgotten about that. Thanks for the reminder.

Somewhere, I can't remember where, I read KV describe his work as opposed to the typical schtick of sugar-coating of bitter truths, as rather bitter-coatings on sweet kernels. Typically irascible.

Your book couldn't be inspired by a better muse.

[semillama]

142. Hocus Pocus is one of my favorite novels

And Vonnegut was one of my heroes. He always spoke the Truth with a capital T.

[leftofthedial]

143. what a contribution he made to our world

I wish we had more like him.

[AnneD]

144. Kurt Vonnegut....

was one of the first 'contemporary' writers that I took to. Read everything in the order he wrote it and stopped at Breakfast of Champions. He made a funny cameo appearance in the movie Back to School which was classic. Didn't think much more of it until I saw him on the Daily Show. I had forgotten how really good he was, as a person and a writer. He sure didn't suffer fools well...and that made him OK in my book.

[Zenlitened]

145. He was one of the greats. No surprise that the obit mentions Mark Twain...

... by the third paragraph.

:cry:

Favorite Vonnegut novel? I think it's impossible to say.

Slaughterhouse 5, of course.

But Cat's Cradle... The Sirens of Titan... Breakfast of Champions (the first Vonnegut I ever read, so a there's a definite emotional attachment, there :) )...

A sad loss. But "Kurt is in Heaven now..."

:hi:

[hatrack]

146. The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal."

The year was 2007, and nearly everybody was finally watching American Idol.

Too damn bad - we'll miss you, Mr. Vonnegut.

:toast:

[deutsey]

147. RIP, Kurt

:evilfrown:

[Zenlitened]

148. Check out his website:

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
1922 — 2007



:cry:

[deutsey]

165. BTW: He was also a senior editor of In These Times

Here's something he wrote for the magazine back in 2004:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/cold_turkey/

[Sweet Freedom]

172. I just wanted to add

that this is all that is currently on his site. No links.

I just found this moving and appropriate.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

149. Something I always tell people...

"I read Slaughterhouse 5 when I was thirteen years old, and I haven't been worth a damn ever since."

Everything I hold dear I owe to Kurt Vonnegut.

[brentspeak]

150. A giant, lost

[Kajsa]

151. We lost a great writer and literary master.

Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut, for all you
gave to us.

[mojavekid]

152. R.I.P.

[Beetwasher]

153. Sad Day. Glad I Got To Meet Him A Couple Of Times.

He was a major hero of mine. Sad, sad day.

[mac56]

154. "Who else could stand the bloody pace?!"

:cry:

[redwitch]

155. RIP Sir

You were brilliant.

[myrna minx]

157. Aw. This really sucks.

He was one of the good guys. RIP, Mr.Vonnegut. You truly changed the world.

[slackmaster]

158. Another vote for "So it goes", and allow me to add a little "Hi ho!"

He lived a good life. His books have always meant a lot to me.

[Junkdrawer]

159. Oh, sure, and leave us behind....

Goodnight, sweet Prince... :cry:

[RestoreGore]

161. We have lost a wise sage...

RIP Mr. Vonnegut.

[Sequoia]

164. How tragic, so sad. What a great man he was.

I adored his books in high school. Just read all I could. Not all his books, but enough to open windows to the world.

God bless you Kurt Vonnegut, we will miss you deeply.

[mondo obscurius]

167. ...and so it goes

r.i.p.

m

[KansDem]

168. His comment about George W. Bush

George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography.

Wikipedia

And about the election of 2004: no matter which one wins, we will have a Skull and Bones President at a time when entire vertebrate species, because of how we have poisoned the topsoil, the waters and the atmosphere, are becoming, hey presto, nothing but skulls and bones.

[FVZA_Colonel]

194. Didn't he actually call him the "Syphilis President?"

Sounds like him.

[CabalPowered]

169. R.I.P Kurt

I would encourage everyone to read "The Longest Winter". It's a great story about the Winter of 44' and how one platoon was taken captive after a heroic firefight, that gave American commanders enough time to organize a defense against Hitler's last push. Kurt's platoon was involved and the author speaks at length about Kurt's input in the book and that winter.

[Sweet Freedom]

170. A quote

When you get to my age--if you get to my age, which is 81--and if you have reproduced, you will find yourself asking your own children, who are themselves middle-aged, what life is all about. I have seven kids, four of them adopted.

Many of you reading this are probably the same age as my grandchildren. They, like you, are being royally shafted and lied to by our baby boomer corporations and government.

I put my big question about life to my biological son Mark. Mark is a pediatrician and author of a memoir, The Eden Express. It is about his crackup, straightjacket and padded-cell stuff, from which he recovered sufficiently to graduate from Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: "Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." So I pass that on to you. Write it down and put it in your computer, so you can forget it.

Kurt Vonnegut, 2004

(So it goes.)

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

175. Eden Express is a great book!

Mark Vonnegut had some real courage to face his madness and get through it. His dad must have given him that character and strength.

I am choked up right now, and my eyes are watering...

[geardaddy]

171. He is my favorite author, hands down.

:cry:

[Kolesar]

181. Edward Abbey, Harry Harrison, Solzhenitsyn, Sagan, ... Vonnegut is up there

Definitely an influence in my life.

[Jim__]

173. So it goes. RIP. - n/t

[Hobarticus]

174. Oh man, three little words that damn near made me cry just now...

Very appropo, my friend.

[Duncan]

177. "Dirty Joke, Dirty Joke."

I am crying.

[leftwingnut]

179. RIP-Kurt. Breakfast of Champions!!! eom

[slay]

180. Vonnegut got me through some tough times - one my my favorite authors

He was a true hero to me with his deep insight and honesty regarding the human condition. He will be missed. :cry:

[Bridget Burke]

183. Kurt Vonnegut gave the Commencement Speech at Rice University in 1998.

Here it is: www.rice.edu/fondren/woodson/vonnegut/

[Hugin]

185. ...

x(

[xxqqqzme]

186. "Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"

[newscott]

188. Kurt's in heaven now....

God bless you Mr. Vonnegut!

[juno jones]

190. Slaughter House Five

was my first. At the tender age of 13. I was in a community theater play at the time and I was reading it back stage when one of the older members of the cast approached. He frowned at me. "Do you parents know you're reading that?" he snapped. "Yes," I replied somewhat truthfully figuring if my parents hadn't already seen me in the living room with the book over the last few days and declined to comment on the book, that it was OK with them and I certainly wasn't going to ask permission to read literature. He just hruphed and stormed off.

Cats Cradle is my favorite, tho. And when my 16 year-old son started reading Vonnegut a couple of years ago, I made a point of lending him my collection.

He was one of the good ones. I'm missing him already.

[gorbal]

209. I lost my Vonnegut Cherry to that book too

I loved how the teacher spent a quarter of the year on that book in high school, and I had already read it twice so I just breezed through it.

[Charlie Brown]

191. what a loss. I just read "Breakfast of Champions" a few months back

He was a genius, and his style was inimitable.

RIP, Mr. Vonnegut.

[superconnected]

192. Terrible loss.

RIP Kurt.

I loved slaughter house five. Especially the description of how dresden looked like the moon after all the bombings.

[greyghost]

193. And...

so it goes....;-)

[Casablanca]

195. Two quotes from Slaughterhouse-5

"The visitor from outer space made a serious study of Christianity, to learn, if he could, why Christians found it so easy to be cruel. He concluded that at least part of the trouble was slipshod storytelling in the New Testament. He supposed that the intent of the Gospels was to teach people, among other things, to be merciful, even to the lowest of the low.

But the Gospels actually taught this:

Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn't well connected. So it goes."



"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever."


You said it, Kurt.

[ohio2007]

197. he lived to a ripe old age for a chain smoker nt

[chefgirl]

198. Oh man..

This is such sad news. What a great writer he was. Its hard to imagine that we wont hear anything more from him, ever again.

Im right in the middle of 'Man without a Country', and of course, like everything else of his that I've read, Im enjoying it immensely.

Useless factoid: I had an eighth grade history teacher who was one of Vonnegut's students when she was in school. She spoke of him like he was the second coming! She SO worshipped him, that I decided I had to find out about this man, and read some of his stuff. I've always been grateful to her for that.

RIP Professor, you will be sorely missed.

-chef-

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

199. Welcome To The Monkey House!

...

Welcome To The Monkey House

"The Foster Portfolio" changed my life: I started playing Boogie-Woogie!
"Harrison Bergeron" informed me about fascism and the human spirit in conflict.
"Who Am I This Time?" was sweetly illuminating... simply lovely.

I am privileged to have lived in his time, and eternally thankful.

[av8rdave]

200. One of the greatest authors of all time, imo....he will be missed

[Mad_Dem_X]

202. His work will live on forever

What a legacy.

RIP, Mr. Vonnegut.

[BrklynLiberal]

203. I heard late last night... I felt as if I had lost someone I knew personally.

My first thought, as has been expressed here by others..."And creeps like Cheney and his ilk are still walking around!!!!!"

Reading thru this thread brought tears to my eyes.

I was floored by his last appearance on TV with Jon Stewart. He was still as amazing and articulate as always.

The www.vonnegut.com site is a magnificent tribute.

[TheBaldyMan]

204. A great loss, a real patriot, a very funny writer and generous spirit.

if anything he was getting better as he got older. I will really miss his acidic commentary on the state of the US.

[last_texas_dem]

205. RIP Mr. Vonnegut

I just finished replying to a thread in the Lounge asking about what the best order to read Vonnegut's books would be. As I read through all the messages in the thread after I'd already posted, I suddenly realized what had happened.

Thank you for your entertaining and inspiring (well, inspiring in a dark and sometimes cynical sense!) works, Mr. Vonnegut, and your one-of-a-kind views on life and humanity.

I've been working on The Sirens of Titan for the last couple of weeks; it just feels so odd to have this happen while I'm working on one of his books.

Maybe Mr. Vonnegut is feeling better and is at peace now. I really don't know, and I can't pretend to know his state of mind, but reading an interview with him in _Rolling Stone_ from about a year ago, he seemed hopeless and much more sad about the state of the world, than even any of his books had ever revealed him to be. Either way, RIP Mr. Vonnegut.

[burrowowl]

206. RIP Kurt!

I hope whoever will publish his collected works. Some of his paperbacks that I carried in my back jeans pocket are and have fallen apar even crumbled.
When I read Slaughter Hous 5 as a sophmore in high school, just a few years after it was published, it strengthened me in my already leftist views.

[Centered]

208. Rest In Peace

A Great Writer has passed

[gorbal]

210. He is coming to my tea party in heaven

Him and Mark Sandman and Brad Will.

[PassingFair]

211. Happy Birthday, Wanda June!

I was reading the Sirens of Titan the night I gave birth to my oldest daughter.

What a loss to the thinking peoples of the world!

Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut, for your work and your humanity, your CARING.

[bamacrat]

212. He will be missed, Slaughterhouse Five was one of the best books ever.

[aaronbees]

214. Sad news but he left such a great legacy

And a well-lived life! RIP.

[TroglodyteScholar]

215. Kurt's up in heaven now...

Celebrity deaths don't usually get to me, but I am devastated by Mr. Vonnegut's passing. I've always said reading a Vonnegut novel is like having a conversation with a wise old friend. He's one of very few authors who can really speak to me, even going back to when I was a punk kid with his head up his ass. Vonnegut's mastery of the reality of the human condition never ceased to amaze me. I think it was Vonnegut who probably taught me the valuable attitude that keeps me going every day--no matter how bad things are, it's just as easy to laugh as it is to cry.

Future generations should be so lucky to have their own Vonneguts. Our nation, our species, our planet, and our galaxy have lost a real unique treasure. I will miss you deeply, Mr. Vonnegut, and it is my sincere wish that though ours carries on (and is undeniably increased by your absence), your suffering has ended.

[pitohui]

217. we have lost a great treasure EOM

.