Novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies at age 84
 

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.

"I will say anything to be funny, often in the most horrible situations," Vonnegut, whose watery, heavy-lidded eyes and unruly hair made him seem to be in existential pain, once told a gathering of psychiatrists.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/.../obit_vonnegut

RIP :(

Wow, he definitely left his mark in this lifetime.

RIP

RIP. I loved "Cat's Cradle". The part about Third World countries and the humorous observations between poverty, morality, and colonialism apply DEAD ON to where I live, the Philippines (sad to say).

Damn, I just reread most of his books last year and even stopped to get a pic outside his place in NYC when I was there last fall. Can't complain about 84 years though.

I watched him chain smoke in front of Quimby's in SOHO a few years ago. He smoked that cig like it was the last one on Earth.

We'll miss you, Kilgore.

oh wow, i've actually been listening to 'Hocus Pocus' on my iPod for the last few nights, truly saddening. thx for the perspective Kurt..

:( :(

Man one of my heroes. How did I not hear about this?

This sucks.

Prayers to his family. An icon forsure....

So it goes

Good riddance.

His words will have him live forever...heck, I was studying him in my freshman year of high school..usually that is left for people that are already dead.

I read 6/7 of his books and they were all worth reading.

I might have to go and find "Cat's Cradle" now as I haven't read that!

RIP man, you will still remain in many many memories! :bowdown

Kurt Vonnegut was a great American writer and social commentator.

His personal story is amazing - one of only seven American POWs to survive the bombing of Dresden in WWII, he witnessed and was subjected to unspeakable horrors, yet he emerged with an incredible sense of humanity.

Kurt also had a tremendous gift for satire...

Some Vonnegut quotes:

"If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind."

"Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!"

"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand."

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way." (Makes me think of Splum, LOL)

"Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance."

"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

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He was a great author.RIP

haven't read his works but then he would definitely be immortalized through them...he may rest in peace...

http://www.osu.edu/features/2006/von...s/vonnegut.jpg

Memorial bump for the morning crew...

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he left an impact bigger than a meteor here on earth....

A great author

Amen. Bokonism helped me though some tough times.

NICE. Mr. Trout would be proud.

wow.. i was shocked that he passed away.. by natural reasons no less :)

RIP Kurt!

"We probably could have saved ourselves but we were too damned lazy to try very hard...and too damn cheap," he once suggested carving into a wall on the Grand Canyon, as a message for flying-saucer creatures.

this sir, has defined your entire life. :321GFY

I own and have read all his books. They are a nice addition to my collection of books. So sad our flame burns for so short a time upon this earth. :(

Breakfast of Champions is one of my favorite books.
It is in that book that Kurt writes about people calling female genitalia beaver.

84 and still a chain smoker? One hell of a Man

He now sleeps with the Tralfamadorians.

:thumbsup

I wish him happiness wherever he is now..RIP.

Damn.. One of my favorite authors for sure. RIP.

very sad to hear. loved when he was in Back to School.

RIP to one of my favorite writers.

The Final Book of Bokonon
If I were a younger man, I would write a history of human stupidity; and I would climb to the top of Mount McCabe and lie down on my back with my history for a pillow; and I would take from the ground some of the blue-white poison that makes statues of men; and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who.