Kurt Vonnegut died today

[Esuohlim]

So it goes :(

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html

[Protoclown]

Damn that sucks :(

[kahljorn]

also my sentiments

[mburbank]

One of my all time favorite writers, one of my biggest influences, one of the main reasons I grew up wanting to be a writer.

Damn it.

[FartinMowler]

Sad way to die for such an influencial writer...I will go back and read some of his books.

[JohnBoy]

Without a doubt my favorite author, *
Goodnight Mr. Vonnegut, you will be sorely missed.

[Rongi]

i almost didnt go in today. this really made me sad.

i know vonnegut sometimes thought that life was nothing but "a crock of shit", but its still really sad to see him go the way he did :(

[Sethomas]

He's in Heaven now.

[Miss Modular]

Anyone who's had to put up with GERALDO as a son-in-law deserves to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

I loved Cat's Cradle. RIP, Kurt.

[Goat Cheese]

i am an idiot

[Sethomas]

Not really, seeing as he didn't.

[glowbelly]

not really, seeing as he died yesterday >:

[kahljorn]

you guys are weird love twins

[Divisible by Waffle]

Wow...I really liked Slaughterhouse-Five. It's truly a saddening loss.

[DuFresne]

Dammit :(.

[DeadKennedys]

I thought he was a pretty mediocre writer, but a great guy. Sad to see him go

[Goat Cheese]

wasn't he in a rodney dangerfeild movie?

[Supafly345]

Looks like deadkennedys has the inside scoop on great writing guys.

[DeadKennedys]

Looks like deadkennedys has the inside scoop on great writing guys.

Just because I don't like him doesn't mean shit. There's no accounting for taste. Did I say I was the authority on good literature? No.

Dumbass.

[Sethomas]

Vonnegut was the ONLY modern writer to stir any motion in me. I think there's the possibility of making the point that his style might not appeal to everyone. But, to read his essays, short stories and different styles of writing within to novels speaks to the fact that he could write better than anyone else in any style of his liking. If Breakfast of Champions seems puerile, read Mother Night. If most of his writings bear a tone of pessimism, read God Bless You, Mr Rosewater.

It's easy to thrash on Vonnegut because his voice is so conversational. While you cannot deny his fabulous vocabulary, you can say that its delivery lacks artistic structure. This would miss the point entirely. He wrote (fantastically, in my opinion) to express his thoughts on the world. He told us what we all know but desperately need to hear. He had no religion, yet he called suicide terrorists "brave". He deplores the war, but empathizes with the soldiers above all--because he saw them as being treated like "toys", in contrast to his own service in World War II.

To read Vonnegut for his humor is to invoke the cliché that served as one of his alternate titles: Pearls before Swine. It served to tell us that although Pandora's box has been opened, it also housed hope.

In one of his essays, I believe included in the compilation Wampeters, Granfaloons, and Foma, (Maybe in Timequake?) mentioned that when he replaced Isaac Asimov as the figurehead of The Secular Humanists Society, he told the audience "Isaac's in Heaven now." I believe he said he wished that the joke would be repeated for himself.

I once wrote a letter to Vonnegut, not expecting to get a response (and I didn't). I didn't write because I wanted to be heard, but to have some tangible contact with what was among the greatest minds of our era. I will forever regret that I, unlike many whom I've met, never got the chance to at least shake his hand in profound thanks for his words. Mostly, I will miss that never again will he write a new story, that never again will he tell us what we all know but need to hear.

God bless you, Mr Vonnegut.

[Supafly345]

I didn't deserve that!

[kahljorn]

how many great modern authors are left? that's wht i thought when this happened :(

[Goat Cheese]

Dean Koontz?

[Jomb]

I'd just like to add that in my opinion Vonnegut was the greatest author who ever existed. Hundreds of years from now people will be obsessed with him in the same way that some people are obsessed with Shakespeare today.

[kahljorn]

people who matter and have good taste are obsessed with Shakespeare?

DO YOU THINK SHAKESPEARE WAS FRANCIS BACON?

[Jomb]

The Bard does have quite a large cult following for a guy from centuries ago, does he not?

All I'm saying is that in the year 2354 there will be gatherings of people, similar to what we have today at a medieval festival, where people will be selling fake ice-9 and quoting lines from Vonnegut's books. Everyone else will probably think his work is too difficult to read because it uses that "old" English that sounds so archaic in 2354.

[kahljorn]

in the future we won't have jobs (except at medieval festivals, which will be voluntary).

[JohnBoy]

how many great modern authors are left? that's wht i thought when this happened :(

Thomas Pynchon comes to mind, but I would be hard pressed to name many more.

[McClain]

STFU JohnBoy. Thomas Pynchon isn't modern. He's contemporary. And he's not even an author. He's a novelist.

[kahljorn]

SORRY I GUESS I CANT TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY AND MODERN.

lol why the hell do people name time periods "Modern" and "Contemporary" didn't it occur to them that they are labeling a time period with a time label that won't be appropriate one hundred years later?

[JohnBoy]

Why don't you explain the difference then you pretentious prick? Pynchon has written novels and authored short stories (See "Slow Learner"). As far as pidgeonholing his genre/writing style, I took Kahljorn's use of Modern to mean modern era writers.

[kahljorn]

I meant modern as in authors who are still alive and around today mostly I'm not really all that anal about time periods or whatever especially since 'modern' can also mean 'modern' and not just an era.

[JohnBoy]

I was responding to McClain. No disrespect Kahl.

[kahljorn]

I know, I was indirectly responding to McClain.

[Black Flag]

really you would've been way better off saying tom wolfe than thomas pynchon

or john mcphee that is where it is at man

but guys don't forget the point of this thread and that's to be sad about kurt vonnegut being dead cause it's sad that he is dead

[Womti]

Dean Koontz?


he's dead now.

[kahljorn]

besides being a mediocre writer :(

[Esuohlim]

There must be a bandwagon that a bunch of fags are jumping on because I went to the bookstore this morning hoping to buy some more Vonnegut and the usual shelf of 25 or so copies of books was all gone except for Slapstick, which I already own and is admittedly not that great either (but hey I liked it :()

[kahljorn]

I like to buy them from amazon because they are three dollars cheaper and you can get free shipping which can end up equalling like 9 dollars saved which is almost an entire book.
of course freeshipping takes like a week :(