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Thread: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

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    Default Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    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.

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    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.

    A self-described religious skeptic and freethinking humanist, Vonnegut used protagonists such as Billy Pilgrim and Eliot Rosewater as transparent vehicles for his points of view. He also filled his novels with satirical commentary and even drawings that were only loosely connected to the plot. In "Slaughterhouse-Five," he drew a headstone with the epitaph: "Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt."

    But much in his life was traumatic, and left him in pain.

    Despite his commercial success, Vonnegut battled depression throughout his life, and in 1984, he attempted suicide with pills and alcohol, joking later about how he botched the job.

    His mother had succeeded in killing herself just before he left for Germany during World War II, where he was quickly taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge. He was being held in Dresden when Allied bombs created a firestorm that killed an estimated tens of thousands of people in the city.

    "The firebombing of Dresden explains absolutely nothing about why I write what I write and am what I am," Vonnegut wrote in "Fates Worse Than Death," his 1991 autobiography of sorts.

    But he spent 23 years struggling to write about the ordeal, which he survived by huddling with other POW's inside an underground meat locker labeled slaughterhouse-five.

    The novel, in which Pvt. Pilgrim is transported from Dresden by time-traveling aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, was published at the height of the Vietnam War, and solidified his reputation as an iconoclast.

    "He was sort of like nobody else," said Gore Vidal, who noted that he, Vonnegut and Norman Mailer were among the last writers around who served in World War II.

    "He was imaginative; our generation of writers didn't go in for imagination very much. Literary realism was the general style. Those of us who came out of the war in the 1940s made sort of the official American prose, and it was often a bit on the dull side. Kurt was never dull."

    Vonnegut was born on Nov. 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, a "fourth-generation German-American religious skeptic Freethinker," and studied chemistry at Cornell University before joining the Army.

    When he returned, he reported for Chicago's City News Bureau, then did public relations for General Electric, a job he loathed. He wrote his first novel, "Player Piano," in 1951, followed by "The Sirens of Titan," "Canary in a Cat House" and "Mother Night," making ends meet by selling Saabs on Cape Cod.

    Critics ignored him at first, then denigrated his deliberately bizarre stories and disjointed plots as haphazardly written science fiction. But his novels became cult classics, especially "Cat's Cradle" in 1963, in which scientists create "ice-nine," a crystal that turns water solid and destroys the earth.

    Many of his novels were best-sellers. Some also were banned and burned for suspected obscenity. Vonnegut took on censorship as an active member of the PEN writers' aid group and the American Civil Liberties Union. The American Humanist Association, which promotes individual freedom, rational thought and scientific skepticism, made him its honorary president.

    His characters tended to be miserable anti-heros with little control over their fate. Pilgrim was an ungainly, lonely goof. The hero of "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" was a sniveling, obese volunteer fireman.

    Vonnegut said the villains in his books were never individuals, but culture, society and history, which he said were making a mess of the planet.

    "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.

    He retired from novel writing in his later years, but continued to publish short articles. He had a best-seller in 2005 with "A Man Without a Country," a collection of his nonfiction, including jabs at the Bush administration ("upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography") and the uncertain future of the planet.

    He called the book's success "a nice glass of champagne at the end of a life."

    In recent years, Vonnegut worked as a senior editor and columnist at "In These Times." Editor Joel Bleifuss said he had been trying recently to get Vonnegut to write something more for the magazine, but was unsuccessful.

    "He would just say he's too old and that he had nothing more to say. He realized, I think, he was at the end of his life," Bleifuss said.

    Vonnegut, who had homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons in New York, adopted his sister's three young children after she died. He also had three children of his own with his first wife, Ann Cox, and later adopted a daughter, Lily, with his second wife, the noted photographer Jill Krementz.

    Vonnegut once said that of all the ways to die, he'd prefer to go out in an airplane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. He often joked about the difficulties of old age.

    "When Hemingway killed himself he put a period at the end of his life; old age is more like a semicolon," Vonnegut told The Associated Press in 2005.

    "My father, like Hemingway, was a gun nut and was very unhappy late in life. But he was proud of not committing suicide. And I'll do the same, so as not to set a bad example for my children."
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Oh, that is sad.

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    I think all of my heros are dead now.

    And Vonnegut was set to speak here in Indy this month. I didn't get tickets at first, but I put ads in the papers and yesterday this man called me to tell me he had two tickets. So I drove over there and he was this really nice old guy, so I gave him $50 for the tickets. And then I had them in my hand and came home and I was so happy because I've waited for 15 years to see him speak. Then today they announced that he cancelled and I was so mad. And now I feel terrible and selfish for being mad about it. This is such a shitty fucking day.
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Oh No! I am so sad to read this. Anygirl you're right, they seem to all be going, soon all we'll have left is the Paris Hiltons of this world. You were going to see him speak? Damn, that really sucks.
    I'm almost as sad about this as when Hunter S. Thompson died. Damn, what a shitty start to the day

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    Veteran Member pheno's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    That is so sad. Kurt was brilliant. I wa so sad about Hunter as well. They both had amazing genius.

    I agree about the Paris Hilton comment...
    "Where oh where, have the smart people gone?"
    -Pink
    "By 'them' do you mean people like me?"

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    Featured Member maximvsv's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by pheno View Post
    That is so sad. Kurt was brilliant. I wa so sad about Hunter as well. They both had amazing genius.

    I agree about the Paris Hilton comment...
    "Where oh where, have the smart people gone?"
    -Pink
    BE the smart people.

    HST pissed me off by killing himself. I wouldn't want to be his kind of ill, either, but I'd still opt to be here, even if I was stuck in a chaiir like Steven Hawking

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    ohh so sad. i really love vonnegut's writing.. and did you mean obituary instead of advertisement? if not, what in the world were they advertising?

    Love it!

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Man, that sucks. I had the great pleasure of seeing Mr Vonnegut speak my senior year in HS, 1990. He was brilliant, warm, hilarious and basically everything you would expect him to be. He hung out afterwards talking to people, and I got him to sign my 1st edition of "Breakfast Of Champions", which some shithead later stole. RIP, sir. Fuck.
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Chrissy68 View Post
    ohh so sad. i really love vonnegut's writing.. and did you mean obituary instead of advertisement? if not, what in the world were they advertising?

    Good point. Now I'm confused cos it looks like its been copied and pasted. Weird

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    Senior Member sleepyboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    A great man. My myspace profile name is attributed to him. He had a book that came out in '06 I believe. I think it was about our world and its current state. More non-fiction if anything if I am correct. Makes me want to go get it now. Thanks for the post.

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Oh, man.

    I have always loved Kurt Vonnegut. My favorite teacher--my high school history teacher, had all sorts of great stories and one he loved to tell was the time that Kurt Vonnegut got drunk at a party and groped his sister's boob. She was a successful lobbyist in D.C. at the time. She couldn't even be mad. It was Kurt Vonnegut!

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    ... you do realize it is up to us who understand "culture" vs. this thin reality and disgusting substitution of brain-addling "pop culture" bullshit (because it is purely commercial and media-driven, not "popular" at all) to carry on the message and legacies of our dying cultural icons....

    and to hopefully impose upon our own/subsequent generations that READING isn't a thing of the past?? sorry, this is depressing... as is the fact that americans don't read anymore. you think i'm kidding?

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    I know damned well you're not kidding. I can't stand TV, never watch it, and read constantly--if you do this it means you are automatically cut out of the mainstream, especially in a place like Daytona, my last residence.

    But enough bitching and whining about literacy and me, what is amazing and sad is that my two favorite authors died in such a short time (HST kind of took over from Kurt, but I read all of Kurt's stuff first, so it makes sense). It sucks they are dead, but it's great that they were here to write for us all.

    On a side note, I think it's great that he and HST have some fans here, not that I'm surprised.
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Embyr View Post
    ... you do realize it is up to us who understand "culture" vs. this thin reality and disgusting substitution of brain-addling "pop culture" bullshit (because it is purely commercial and media-driven, not "popular" at all) to carry on the message and legacies of our dying cultural icons....

    and to hopefully impose upon our own/subsequent generations that READING isn't a thing of the past?? sorry, this is depressing... as is the fact that americans don't read anymore. you think i'm kidding?
    I don't think you're kidding, I agree with you wholeheartedly.

    Quote Originally Posted by Djoser View Post
    It sucks they are dead, but it's great that they were here to write for us all.
    Yes, and I am grateful for that. RIP.

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    Featured Member Kabukicho's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Dottie Rebel View Post
    Oh, man.

    I have always loved Kurt Vonnegut. My favorite teacher--my high school history teacher, had all sorts of great stories and one he loved to tell was the time that Kurt Vonnegut got drunk at a party and groped his sister's boob. She was a successful lobbyist in D.C. at the time. She couldn't even be mad. It was Kurt Vonnegut!
    ... And what a great story, 'Kurt Vonnegut grabbed my sister's boob'!

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Kabukicho View Post
    ... And what a great story, 'Kurt Vonnegut grabbed my sister's boob'!
    ... you know... even though i'd be the first to call "sexual harassment..." there are a few people for whom I would make really horrible double-standard exceptions for... and to whom I would say, "damn... thanks! you just gave me a story I can tell my grandkids!!!"

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Embyr View Post
    ... you do realize it is up to us who understand "culture" vs. this thin reality and disgusting substitution of brain-addling "pop culture" bullshit (because it is purely commercial and media-driven, not "popular" at all) to carry on the message and legacies of our dying cultural icons....

    and to hopefully impose upon our own/subsequent generations that READING isn't a thing of the past?? sorry, this is depressing... as is the fact that americans don't read anymore. you think i'm kidding?
    One of the most important posts ever on SW. I am saddened to hear of his untimely death.

    My bookcase is filled with "counter-culture" novels. I even included Hemmingway, Miller and Kerouac, although I believe them to be a tad misogynistic, because I have the need sometimes, to erase the stink that is today's neon charged world, and to escape to a place where I draw the picture...the author just provides the colorful pallette.

    RIP Kurt. You will be missed more than you'll ever know.

    Signed,
    A Mother Who Read To Her Children

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    RIP Kurt. I read about it this morning. Very sad news.

    On a lighter note, every time I read one of these threads and find more freethinking women on here I am more and more proud. People love to talk down about our profession, but they have no freakin idea. We really have an amazing collection of intelligent, well-rounded, and *bonus* hot chics here.

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    One of my favorites. I've been amazed at his resilience in recent years, even continuing to be politically outspoken! I'm so sad to hear this.

    And Embyr, you are right on.
    "Before I conceived you, I wanted you. Before you were born, I loved you. Before you were here an hour, I would die for you. This is the miracle of life." -- Maureen Hawkins

    "I just can't get over how much babies cry. I really had no idea what I was getting into. To tell you the truth, I thought it would be more like getting a cat." -- Anne Lamott

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    Featured Member Kabukicho's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Zabrina View Post
    RIP Kurt. I read about it this morning. Very sad news.

    On a lighter note, every time I read one of these threads and find more freethinking women on here I am more and more proud. People love to talk down about our profession, but they have no freakin idea. We really have an amazing collection of intelligent, well-rounded, and *bonus* hot chics here.
    Agreed. Although the news is sad it is a pleasure to read through the comments in this thread . I am sure he would be tickled to know he's being discussed on a stripper's forum.

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    And so it goes.

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    Featured Member Kabukicho's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Quote Originally Posted by Sitri View Post
    And so it goes.
    Nice

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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    It was not mentioned in that obituary, but he supposedly went to my college, quit before graduating (no blaming him there--it was pretty stuffy) but never got the usual honorary degree. I could be wrong about the degree, but I do not think so.

    I never read the nonfiction book, I need to get that!
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    This is an excellent excuse for me to go back and re-read all my Vonnegut books, and pick up any I am missing. I agree about the reading thing. I don't trust people that don't read, it makes me uneasy. Thankfully, I have always bought my kids books and they all like to read. Brainfood!
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    Veteran Member Jeanette's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sad news: Kurt Vonnegut dead

    Thanks so much for posting this. How disappointing that I never got to hear him speak live. Reading Slaughterhouse-Five when I was in high school left such an impact on me. To this day, one of my fondest memories is reading the novel in a forest and realizing just how ironic life can be. Not surprising that he was a Scorpio.

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