Kurt Vonnegut Dead at 84

[Leckomaniac]

Kurt Vonnegut, whose novels included "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Cat's Cradle," has died at 84, his wife tells The Associated Press.

This hit close to home. Too sad.

EDIT: The main page has an obit up right here

[quote]At 84, the shadow that Kurt Vonnegut still cast over the literary landscape in America is profound and remarkable. His body of work may not be the largest... he leaves behind a total of 14 novels... but I would find it hard to name someone whose work had more influence in the second half of the 20th century.
His first novel was PLAYER PIANO in 1952, but it was published under a different title at that point. THE SIRENS OF TITAN came next, followed at a fairly rapid clip by MOTHER NIGHT, CAT’S CRADLE, and GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER. His towering accomplishment as a novelist, though, came in 1969, when SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE was released. The story of Billy Pilgrim, a young man whose contact with aliens from the planet Trafalmadore leads to him becoming “unstuck in timeâ€

[magicmonkey]

Sad news, was just discussing "Slaughterhouse Five" with Flumm in the remakes thread too


See Flumm, SEE!! He read your post in the remake thread!

[The Todd]

Shit.

[Leckomaniac]

Reading the obit that Mori wrote almost brought me to tears. Slaughterhouse Five is a favorite of mine (as I am sure it is to many others). This news devestated me.

Indeed:


So it goes.

[Lady Sheridan]

I confess to my shame that I haven't read alot of Vonnegut--a few essays in one American lit class. But we have too few brilliant writers in the world and it's never good to lose one.

[Bob Samonkey]

I am glad he had a full life. Congrats sir! RIP and good luck in whatever time you are in now...

[TheBaxter]

i hear Willa Ford is going to play him in the biopic.

too soon?

seriously, i've never read one of his books, i should probably get around to doing that.

[tapehead]

JL gave me The Sirens of Titan to read a month or two ago on a plane flight. I read the whole thing from cover to cover (it was a long flight). Before then I'd only ever read Slaughterhouse five. Since then I've read three others - I'm part the way through Cat's Cradle right now. Before that I didn't think there was as good a science fiction writer I could love as much as Phillip K Dick - but there was.

A good interview of old friends - Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut

http://www.vonnegutweb.com/vonnegutia/interviews/i nt_heller.html

[Lord Voldemoo]

damn.

Wow...I kinda thought Vonnegut would live forever just to spite himself. RIP, Kurt.

[This is a biscuit]

Wow, it was kind of like he'd just go on and on. But he's dead now, period. What a loss.

[Adam Balm]

Oh fuck....

[buster00]

RIP, Mr. Vonnegut. 84 and you still went too soon.

[Fievel]

Finally.
Someone in the afterlife to teach Rodney Dangerfield about Vonnegut.

R.I.P.

[Logan5]

RIP
Not many of the greats left with us now.

[John-Locke]

[TonyWilson]

His words helped make me who I am. He opened my eyes to many things and articulated how I felt about many others in a way that was wise and cynical but still innocent and otherwordly.
The Kurt Vonnegut machine is broken.
RIP

[colonel_lugz]

I guess I should really read one of his books

[John-Locke]

No, read them all.

[Nordling]

Yep.

A great loss. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE was my favorite of his, and sadly I've not read BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS yet. That will be rectified.

[TonyWilson]

Breakfast Of Champions is an utterly brilliant book. Possibly my favourite of his. I read it at 15, 19 and most recently at 23 and everytime I found more depth and honesty and originality of voice and vision than I could find reading 3 different books from lesser authors it's THAT good.

[Zarles]

"Good luck," she said.
"You too," he said. "Marry me, Catharine?"
"No," she said.
He smiled, stared at her hard for a moment, then walked away quickly.
Catharine watched him grow smaller in the long perspective of shadows and trees, knew
that if he stopped and turned now, if he called to her, she would run to him. She would have no
choice.
Newt did stop. He did turn. He did call. "Catharine," he called.
She ran to him, put her arms aroud him, could not speak.


*sigh*

[stereosforgeeks]

I am really saddened by this. As many other people have said, he helped define my literary tastes and to articulate things that I would never be able.

RIP.

[The Vicar]

Hard to see my keyboard right now.
Kurt was so special, both as a human being & an author.
The phrase "one of a kind" gets tossed around often at a time like this,
but if Kurt weren't "one of a kind", then no one was.
One of the certified truly remarkable minds of our time.
I loved his essays even more tha his novels & short stories.
If you met him once, you never forgot about it.

Favorite Vonnegut moment?
From Slaughter House Five -
( paraphrased )
"I've shit everything but my brains...."
fffllllaaappppp
"There they go! There they go!"

Rest in peace, amigo.
Gawd I'll miss him.

[Wolfpack]

Death. So it goes.

[minstrel]

Kurt Vonnegut produced a body of work of rare originality. When I was growing up, I could tell who among my friends and acquaintances were really bright and interesting because they would be the ones reading and discussing Vonnegut.

RIP, sir, and thank you.

[DinoDeLaurentiis]

Okay no more references to a the "so it goes" inna the Vonnegut eulogies, eh?

Goddamn putzes...

[John-Locke]

Ho Hum.

[The Todd]

Okay no more references to a the "so it goes" inna the Vonnegut eulogies, eh?

Goddamn putzes...

So it goes.....

[Nordling]

"Shrapnel was invented by an Englishman of the same name. Don’t you wish you could have something named after you?" - Kurt Vonnegut

[beastie]

I hope Wynkoop Brewing Co. brings back the "Kurt's Mile-High Malt" in tribute. I would just like to own a bottle. I have a bottle of Flying Dog Brewery's tribute to Hunter S. Thompson.

[Nachokoolaid]

Perhaps this goes in the "Losing your geek cred" thread, but I'm an Enlish teacher, and I can honestly say that I made it through seven years of college and a few years of teaching, and I've never once read any Vonnegut.

[Seppuku]

One of the certified truly remarkable minds of our time.

And also one of the truly certifiable minds of our time. And I love him for it.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

[DinoDeLaurentiis]

Perhaps this goes in the "Losing your geek cred" thread, but I'm an Enlish teacher, and I can honestly say that I made it through seven years of college and a few years of teaching, and I've never once read any Vonnegut.

Hehehe... more like a losing your cred... period, eh?

[The Vicar]

One of the certified truly remarkable minds of our time.

And also one of the truly certifiable minds of our time. And I love him for it.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

Without a doubt.
Damn.

Still, considering his love affair with cigarettes, 84 is not too bleeding shabby.
I should live so long.

[The Vicar]

Perhaps this goes in the "Losing your geek cred" thread, but I'm an Enlish teacher, and I can honestly say that I made it through seven years of college and a few years of teaching, and I've never once read any Vonnegut.

Hehehe... more like a losing your cred... period, eh?

Ole !!!

[brainiac]

Having read most of Vannegut's books, I too will miss whatever
novels he still had yet to write.

Quoting a movie I saw recently "It's not a tragedy when an old man dies."
But in this case, they are wrong.

So Kurt, have a beer at the Great Writer's Bar up there and tell PKD and
Frank Herbert and Isaac Asimov we all said "Hi!"

[DinoDeLaurentiis]

Quoting a movie I saw recently "It's not a tragedy when an old man dies."

Holy crappa... come on! Where's a the love, eh? I feel like I'm inna the goddamn "Boomsday" thread, no?

[Flumm]

I sat in a room full of people today, and had to hear them talk about his death like they were discussing, dispassionately, they minor internal workings of a daytime soap opera.

Probably an australian one.

Probably one set on a beach.

Perhaps a hostpital.

Maybe a hospital set on a beach.


I hate moments like that. They make me feel as if I'm choking. Like I want to escape. Reach for an new and fresh atmosphere. To fill my senses with something other than that moment. One were I'm not stuck in the amber.

But I also know, in their own way, that they were right.

And I knew it in that moment, too.

It was funny as it was tragic.

As it always, always is.



He was loved.

[Pacino86845]

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
1922 — 2007

From http://www.vonnegut.com

[The Vicar]

Nice, Pacino.
Very nice.

[Nachokoolaid]

Perhaps this goes in the "Losing your geek cred" thread, but I'm an Enlish teacher, and I can honestly say that I made it through seven years of college and a few years of teaching, and I've never once read any Vonnegut.

Hehehe... more like a losing your cred... period, eh?

There was actually some pain there. Ouch.

I don't really study 20th Century literature.

[Adam Balm]

Fox News had an interesting obit on him. And of course by interesting I mean vomit inducing and completely lacking in humanity. I don't know how many times one can use Fox News and shameless in the same sentence, but here's another opportunity.

[Lord Voldemoo]

Fox News had an interesting obit on him. And of course by interesting I mean vomit inducing and completely lacking in humanity. I don't know how many times one can use Fox News and shameless in the same sentence, but here's another opportunity.

wow...just wow.

[Adam Balm]

Yeah, it takes real balls to wait til someone dies, and thus can't defend themselves, to take pot-shots at them.

[Leckomaniac]

Yeah, it takes real balls to wait til someone dies, and thus can't defend themselves, to take pot-shots at them.

Oh Fox News, you little rapscallion you.

[magicmonkey]

Much to learn from this obit, there is.

[Adam Balm]

My brother just put it in perspective for me when he said "Yeah, but just think what Fox News' obit is going to say when their time has passed."

So when one thinks about the legacy Vonnegut has had, and the legacy they'll have...

[magicmonkey]

For the aggrieved, take solace in this.

[tapehead]

Good Gods people, you have got to stop watching this garbage!

'Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative.'

[buster00]

My brother just put it in perspective for me when he said "Yeah, but just think what Fox News' obit is going to say when their time has passed."

So when one thinks about the legacy Vonnegut has had, and the legacy they'll have...

I have yet to meet your brother, but I like the guy already!