Thursday, April 12, 2007

Kurt Vonnegut, Dead.

Kurt Vonnegut passed away yesterday at the age of 84. He fell a few weeks ago, suffering brain damage, and finally succumbed to his injuries. I am a huge fan of his work. I read Slaughterhouse 5 when I was in high school, but I was way too young to appreciate it. It was many years later that I picked up The Sirens of Titan and realized what a sardonic genius Vonnegut was. My favorite book of his, by far, is Timequake. In it there is a ripple in time in which everyone on Earth is forced to relive a twenty year period, fully aware that they are reliving it, but totally helpless to change anything. I highly recommend it.

Many of my favorite quotes come from Vonnegut, including one I used for years as my signature line for my emails. "If you really want to hurt your parents, and you haven't the nerve to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts." Brilliant!

If you haven't read any of his work, please do so. If you have, pause a moment to remember a great writer.

Rest in peace, Kurt. You've earned it.

Marius

2 comments:

Queen Bad Kitty said...

He was 84 and I was still stunned.

We were talking about how much he gave the world....
and how much air-time will HE get?

Not nearly anything like
Anna Nicole Smith.

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad
world indeed.

I bow my head.

P :(


(and the twit at the bank said
"Who died?"

I'm gonna puke.

Unknown said...
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