Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

[Forkboy]

NEW YORK — Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Wednesday. He was 84.

Vonnegut, who often marveled that he had lived so long despite his lifelong smoking habit, had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home weeks ago, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.

The author of at least 19 novels, many of them best-sellers, as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays, Vonnegut relished the role of a social critic. He lectured regularly, exhorting audiences to think for themselves and delighting in barbed commentary against the institutions he felt were dehumanizing people.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4707797.html

[Trajan]

1. 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 the book, at the top of Mount McCabe, thumbing his nose at 'You Know Who' ....

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

[ixion]

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

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

One of my favs by Bokonon.

[Kiouni]

2. Humanity has lost one of their best today. n/t

[Vexatious Ape]

3. What a wonderful writer.

I'll never forget my feeling of awe when I first read Slaughter House, and Breakfast of Champions.

[Greyhound]

4. The world is a much poorer place today.

:cry:

[applegrove]

6. Sorry to loose one of us. Now I actually have to go out and read one of his books.

I hear Slaughterhouse 5 is the best. Last time I looked, it wasn't in the library.

[Forkboy]

10. Try any of them...Slaughterhouse Five is probably his best known

But any of them are excellent.Try Galapogos,Deadeye Dick,or Redbeard.But like I say,they were all great,and each one will make you want to smile and cry at the same time.

[Forkboy]

12. Too late to edit my post,but I mean't Bluebeard.

I had a date with a pirate last night and that was what I was thinking of earlier :)

[applegrove]

13. Thanks for the info. I cannot wait.

[formercia]

7. "and so it goes"

as Kurt used to say.

[phusion]

8. a couple of quotes....

"The arts put man at the center of the universe, whether he belongs there or not. Military science, on the other hand, treats man as garbage— and his children, and his cities, too. Military science is probably right about the contemptibility of man in the vastness of the universe. Still— I deny that contemptibility, and I beg you to deny it, through the creation of appreciation of art."
-Kurt Vonnegut from _Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons_

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

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

* Vonnegut's Blues For America 07 January, 2006 Sunday Herald

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. I am so sad today

I am watching him on Democracy Now . He was the best of the best

[Forkboy]

11. Honestly,even though we knew it was coming it's been like a punch in the gut for me.

He was one of the few people in this world that really,really made an impact on me.Enough so that I always tried to model myself after him,to be that kind of person,to usually less than stellar results.But I tried...and it was because of Kurt. :(