Friday, April 13, 2007

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut!

For those of you that haven't heard, Kurt Vonnegut passed away on Wednesday. I have posted quite a few times about Vonnegut's writings and how insightful they are. When I heard the news I almost cried, literally. It is not very often that I get affected by something like this. Sure, people say "I was at home when Kennedy was shot" or "I was watching TV at my grandmothers house when the news came in that Princess Diana died" but this is different to me.

I just finished his last novel a few weeks ago and it was amazing. Mr. Vonnegut had a unique way of opening peoples eyes to things. In a previous post, seen here, I printed an amazing piece of writing about war. After reading Slaughterhouse V I will not be able to look at it the same way again.


It is not often that a writer really has an impact on you. They way Kurt Vonnegut mixed off the wall scenarios with amazing wordplay cements him into the culture. His insanity was matched by his brilliance and I will miss him. Though his website is currently halted in mourning, I recommend checking it out. Also, you can read a report about him from MSN which is very good.


That is all,


Newt

2 Ripples in the pond:

Addy's Daddy said...

I saw a clip of Vonnegut's last television interview and he was complaining about cigarettes not killing him. He said that he had been smoking for like 30 years and he reads the side of the package and it says that it is going to kill him, so he thought that maybe he should sue the cigarette companies for false advertising! I just thought that this was a great example of his insanity/genius/sense of humor and why his books connect so well to people.

Trinity said...

He did an interview on The Daily Show a while back that was magnificent.