RIP: Kurt Vonnegut

herbivore12 · Post by **herbivore12** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:14 pm

Well, crap.

Kurt Vonnegut died tonight.

A tremendous humanist, and a man at once terribly sad and terribly full of life and humor. I really held him in high regard.

I am glad that he lived a long life, and rubbed the right people the wrong way.

A tremendously generous human being, I think.

So it goes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books ... ref=slogin

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_ ... t_vonnegut

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:22 pm

Kurt Vonnegut in “Requiem” wrote:
...When the last living thing

has died on account of us,

how poetical it would be

if Earth could say,

in a voice floating up

perhaps

from the floor

of the Grand Canyon,

“It is done.”

People did not like it here

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:39 pm

In my younger days I read all of Vonnegut's books.

I can remember one line off the top of my head:
"Time is blurry bird..."

Seems appropiate for a time of passing.

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:42 am

Doh.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:39 am

Very sad news indeed. The world has lost another brilliant mind... so it goes.

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:42 am

Between Kurt Vonnegut and Art Buchwald, the world has lost lots of humor this year.

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:52 am

I, too, read everything Vonnegut when I was younger. I am not so sure anymore that I know all the answers, but his sharp questioning of everything has always stayed with me.

djm

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:03 am

djm wrote:I, too, read everything Vonnegut when I was younger. I am not so sure anymore that I know all the answers, but his sharp questioning of everything has always stayed with me.

djm

I do not think I know an American of my age group who hasn't read and loved K. V. Jr.'s literature. I do know that having gone back and re-read everything he wrote recently, I find my perspective has changed considerably since the first time I picked up one of his books... but it still means a great deal to me, just a different message now.

I honestly feel he was the 20th century's Mark Twain as the article suggests.

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:14 am

And who, exactly, are today's Kurt Vonneguts?

Am I getting old and crusty, or have we given up any hope of recovery?

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:27 am

crookedtune wrote:Am I getting old and crusty, or have we given up any hope of recovery?

Yes, you are getting old and crusty ... or at least a bit flaky.

Vonnegut once proposed carving a message into the walls of the Grand Canyon to explain to any aliens who might visit here in future what became of us:

KVjr wrote:We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard ... and too damn cheap

djm

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:29 am

djm wrote:
Vonnegut once proposed carving a message into the walls of the Grand Canyon to explain to any aliens who might visit here in future what became of us:
KVjr wrote:We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard ... and too damn cheap
djm

That about sums it up for me.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:31 am

"everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." the epitaph from the tombstone in slaughterhouse five.

i'm not very good at memorizing lines but one of the characters in breakfast of champions (i could be wrong) wore mirrored sunglasses and he said, "the big show is inside." meaning his head.

diana moon glompers, mr rosewater, and all the people who could imitate bird songs were my favorites.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:34 am

chas wrote:Between Kurt Vonnegut and Art Buchwald, the world has lost lots of humor this year.

I missed this earlier, but Johhny Hart (creator of BC comics)
died at his drawing table this past Saturday. Some may argue that
this hasn't changed the world's humor quotient, but it's still sad.

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:34 am

I would say he deserves his own thread.

djm

doogieman · Post by **doogieman** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:53 am

I read "Sirens of Titan" at least once a year and regularly go back through all of his books from time to time. I started reading Vonnegut in college during the early 70's and still find him entertaining and meaningful today.

"He's up in Heaven Now" (he would find that statement hilarious)

RIP