Author Kurt Vonnegut dead at 84

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/...8acc..BbWs0NUE

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.

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.

And so it went.

RIP
He was a favorite author of mine.

Moved to The Arts.

Great author... I hope they ICE9 his body...

A tremendous writer indeed. I can't help but be sad, although he had a long and productive life.

No!

I really enjoyed his books, great person as well. And I liked him of my own accord, not because someone told me it was cool...first read him in 8th grade. He will be missed.

But lol @ the ICE9 comment.

I didn't know he was still alive. May he rest in peace and all that.

Poo-tee-weet?

I have come to the conclusion that I need to read more Vonnegut. I have read: Player Piano, Sirens of Titan, God Bless You Mister Rosewater, Slaughterhouse Five, Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos, and Timequake. Each one of them constituted a memorable experience in my life. If the other ones are as good as those, then there is much untapped pleasure to be had yet!

Nihil, read Slapstick if you haven't that was one of his best books, in my opinion.

I heard the news first period in class today, when my teacher asked me if I had heard the news. Until then, I thought since Kurt Vonnegut was so shrivilled and cynical, that he'd end up living until 123 just to annoy him.

But he lead a long life, and I think that he's been waiting to die for the past 10 years now.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut, greatest American writer of the 20th century.

Considering he was a life-long cigarette smoker, he lived life to the fullest.

I'm going to buy his latest and last book, A Man Without A Country, next time I get a chance. His books are kind of short but they can be found easily and bought cheaply.
Nihil: Cat's Cradle is essential if you haven't read it before.

How unfortunate, I just finished Slaughterhouse-Five, and now I'm tempted to read more of his books. Oh, well, it was inevitable.