RIP, Kurt Vonnegut -- maybe the only man who could make sense of today's madness

[lwcon]

Old age and injuries from a fall have finally done what the firebombing of Dresden, attempted suicide, and years of smoking could not: claimed the life of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Perhaps there was no one better to write our epitaph for when Bush gets us all killed, so it's a damn shame he's gone when we needed him most.

Perhaps his collected works are the epitaph for when Bush gets us all killed.

If you haven't yet treated yourself to reading every word he ever wrote, I suggest you start right now with Cat's Cradle or his sagely essay collection A Man Without a Country.

From there, life's chrono-synclastic infundibulum will pull you into a body of work that is wonderfully, paradoxically both pithy and digressive.

You'll be entertained, you'll be sadder, and you'll be wiser. You'll fall in love with our crazy species, and you won't be surprised when we're gone.

So it goes.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[JeffR]

1. He was unique

his death leaves a huge void in our common humanity.

[Captain Hilts]

4. He was Katharine Hepburn's neighbor. I'd like to have seen them in the same room. nt

[lwcon]

6. I wonder what % of DUers have been influenced by him

IMHO: Along with Monty Python, Vonnegut is essential for anyone who wants to comprehend our absurd modern world. And beyond just making fun of our absurdities, he inspires you to try to make the world a kinder place -- locally, globally, any which way you can.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[JeffR]

7. Exactly

I think his sensibility surfaces in many posts on DU.

There'll be so many horrors of the Bush years to look back on, and one of the saddest aspects has been the loss of voices like Vonnegut, Ivins and Thompson. Would that they all could be here to watch the continuing meltdown of the cabal.

[Forkboy]

9. I'm one of them.

He's one of the people who have shaped me the most.

Well,him and Daffy Duck.

[demnan]

2. Our Mark Twain is gone

:cry:

[YOY]

3. God Bless You Mr. Rosewa...Mr. Vonnegut

You've made me laugh and cry...sometimes at the same time. You've shown madness where society would deem sanity. You've taken science fiction to it's rightful place: as an introspective tool for modern times.

[edbermac]

5. So it goes.

[uppityperson]

8. Picture from vonnegut.com

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
1922 — 2007

[YankeyMCC]

10. Memorial mention and interview excerpt

http://www.thenewhumanism.org/?page_id=36

[lwcon]

11. Thanks... I've included it a quote from it here:

http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2007/04/farewell-from-monkey-house.html