Lu
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Post by Lu on Apr 12, 2007 7:32:09 GMT -5
It's so so sad! I knew he was older than 80 but I couldn't believe that..I've checked and it's a sadly true new.
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Apr 12, 2007 8:20:49 GMT -5
It's always sad when a great man passes away; I'm glad his ideas and spirit are going to live on in his books. I think I'm gonna read one of his novels in his memory...
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Post by bookaddict on Apr 12, 2007 14:43:36 GMT -5
It's sad...but I keep thinking about "A Man Without A Country" where he talks about waiting to die. He explains that he's been smoking for years and disappointed that it hasen't done anything to him. I really want to read more of his books.
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Nathalie
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Post by Nathalie on Apr 12, 2007 15:54:33 GMT -5
jefie, you sound very poetic
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sagedautumn
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Post by sagedautumn on Apr 12, 2007 16:52:38 GMT -5
here's an article:
Kurt Vonnegut, influential author of 'Slaughterhouse-Five' and 'Cat's Cradle,' dies at 84 AP NEW YORK (AP) - In books such as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus," Kurt Vonnegut mixed the bitter and funny with a touch of the profound.
Vonnegut, regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died Wednesday at 84. He had suffered brain injuries after a recent fall at his Manhattan home, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.
In a statement, Norman Mailer hailed Vonnegut as "a marvelous writer with a style that remained undeniably and imperturbably his own. ... I would salute him - our own Mark Twain."
"He was sort of like nobody else," said fellow author Gore Vidal. "Kurt was never dull."
Vonnegut's works - more than a dozen novels plus short stories, essays and plays - contained elements of social commentary, science fiction and autobiography. Hours after his death, "Slaughterhouse-Five" had jumped to the top 10 on book sales site Amazon.com, while "Cat's Cradle" and the nonfiction "A Man Without a Country" had reached the top 40.
Vonnegut's longtime friend and manager, Donald Farber, said there would be no public memorial, only a private gathering of family and friends. He also said other Vonnegut books were likely to come out, but declined to offer specifics.
A self-described religious skeptic and freethinking humanist, Vonnegut used protagonists such as Billy Pilgrim ("Slaughterhouse-Five") and Eliot Rosewater ("God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater") as transparent vehicles for his points of view.
He lectured regularly, exhorting audiences to think for themselves and delighting in barbed commentary against the institutions he felt were dehumanizing people.
"He was a man who combined a wicked sense of humor and sort of steady moral compass, who was always sort of looking at the big picture of the things that were most important," said Joel Bleifuss, editor of In These Times, a liberal magazine based in Chicago that featured Vonnegut articles.
Some of Vonnegut's books were banned and burned for alleged obscenity. He 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.
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.
"I like to say that the 51st state is the state of denial," he told The Associated Press in 2005. "It's as though a huge comet were heading for us and nobody wants to talk about it. We're just about to run out of petroleum and there's nothing to replace it."
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.
"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.
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Apr 12, 2007 18:11:53 GMT -5
Great article, thanks sage! His mother committed suicide, didn't she?
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zeldafitzgerald
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Apr 12, 2007 18:51:53 GMT -5
Great article, thanks sage! His mother committed suicide, didn't she? Yes, she did - on Mother's day right before he went to war, I believe. I'm reading one of his books in memory too. I had put down Breakfast of Champions a few weeks ago to read something for a book signing, but now I've started it over and am really enjoying it. I know it's a lot of people's favorites, but for some reason I hadn't read this one yet. Something strange: His alter-ego that he writes about in some of his books is the fictional Kilgore Trout. Vonnegut killed Trout in the novel Timequake when Trout was 84 - the same age Vonnegut was when he died. Here's something beautiful that he said in an interview: VONNEGUT: Well, there were—or maybe there are—a number of dead people out there. (Laughs.) It's a very crowded place. There is a Beethoven and a Shakespeare and a Hitler and an entire family out there. But, fortunately, you don't have to go to heaven to talk to some of them. A lot of them have left us amazing things on paper, and so their lives persist here anyway. Wonderful words. Beautiful music. Stunning things that resonate. An appropriate quote from Vonnegut: "And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, 'Kurt is up in heaven now.' That's my favorite joke."
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zeldafitzgerald
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Post by zeldafitzgerald on Apr 12, 2007 19:54:08 GMT -5
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sagedautumn
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Post by sagedautumn on Apr 12, 2007 20:08:58 GMT -5
yea. he tried committing suicide as well. did u know he stated that the perfect way to die (for him) was to crash a plane on Mt. Kilamanjaro!!!
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Post by bookaddict on Apr 12, 2007 20:38:47 GMT -5
I didn't know he tried to commit sucide.
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Lu
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Post by Lu on Apr 13, 2007 3:54:39 GMT -5
You had good idea, I'm going to read a book in his memory too, I'll go to bookstore and library this afternoon and see what they have. Thanks for the article sage, and thanks for posting that link zelda, you made a so nice tribute!
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squishy
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Post by squishy on Apr 13, 2007 5:47:21 GMT -5
God, I just started to really like him and then he passes away. That's so incredibly sad It is always too soon when someone, especially someone so great as he was, goes. And about his suicide attempt...there were many times in my life when I thought: really great books, great lyrics...whatever, really great creativ outcomes, they just were/are so good because most of the times the creator was incredibly sad, hurt and lonely. The best work comes from depressed and really sad people. As I myself like to write lyrics and stuff, I just realized that they come the easiest when I'm really sad and my life's just not worth living at this moment. And it's some of the best work that forms in these times. You can see that with any artist you like. Especially writers and singers. These are the times we get the best insights in life itself. Now I'll read every book of Vonnegut to keep him alive, at least in our memories.
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Isa
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Post by Isa on Apr 13, 2007 8:22:22 GMT -5
I know, so many writers end up committing or trying to commit suicide. That's part of the reason why I don't think I'll ever be a good writer, I'm way too happy! In Vonnegut's case, he wrote some great novels after his suicide attempt (Galapagos, Hocus Pocus...) so I guess we're lucky that he got to live a long and productive life after all.
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squishy
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Oy with the poodles already!
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Post by squishy on Apr 13, 2007 8:29:41 GMT -5
Ditto Jefie!! I'm just a way to optimistic person and love to be alive that I couldn't even think about committing suicide. God would we suck ;D
Yeah, he lived a long and most of all a successful life. So many other people had/have so much less in their lives.
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Post by Dominique on Apr 14, 2007 1:11:51 GMT -5
here's an article: Vonnegut's longtime friend and manager, Donald Farber, said there would be no public memorial, only a private gathering of family and friends. He also said other Vonnegut books were likely to come out, but declined to offer specifics. I'm glad that there's a possibility of more of his work being released. I borrowed my boyfriend's copy of Breakfast of Champions and am going to read it as a tribute as soon as I finish Jane Eyre
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