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Ear to the Ground

Kurt Vonnegut Dead at 84

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Posted on Apr 12, 2007

The iconic writer, who challenged conventional wisdom through 14 novels and numerous essays, died Wednesday from a brain injury. Vonnegut survived a nearly lifelong smoking habit only to succumb to a recent fall in his apartment. He once joked that he would prefer to die in a plane crash on Kilimanjaro and said he would avoid suicide “so as not to set a bad example for my children.”

Though troubled by depression, he enjoyed a long, fruitful and humor-filled life.  He will surely be missed.

AP via Washington Post:

His characters tended to be miserable anti-heros with little control over their fate. 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 work, including jabs at the Bush administration ("upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography") and the uncertain future of the planet.

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By archeon of thrace, April 12, 2007 at 7:49 pm #
(561 comments total)

Bye Kurt.  Your stories and books made my life here in this fundmentalist psuedo-religious hell a little more bearable.  Thanks.

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By Donald W. Paulus, April 12, 2007 at 5:51 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

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By Donald W. Paulus, April 12, 2007 at 3:37 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

God bless you Mr. Vonnegut.

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By MrArkadin, April 12, 2007 at 2:26 pm #
(1 comments total)

Kurt Vonnegut was unique, beloved, irreplaceable. While in journalistic shorthand he might be described as “iconoclastic”—i.e., a smasher of images—that does not begin to identify what was great and wonderful about him. To call him an “icon” or “iconic” is just plain meaningless, if not downright insulting. Isn’t it time to retire the word “icon” from public discourse? If it ever had any value—doubtful—it has long since worn away to nothing.

“That’s right,” said Judas, “Eternity,
“Though you might call it ‘Paradise’”
“I don’t call it anything,”
said Frankie Lee, with a smile,
“All right,” said Judas Priest,
“I’ll see you after awhile.”

--Dylan

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By levi civita, April 12, 2007 at 9:46 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Message to Beetlejuice: “Kurt down, Kurt down! About two and a half more to go before humans are eradicated on the pale blue planet.”

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By Storey, April 12, 2007 at 9:38 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I think you’ll enjoy our tribute video to this American literary legend.

http://digg.com/videos/people/Kurt_Vonnegut_Tribute

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By C Quil, April 12, 2007 at 9:16 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Bye, Kurt. I loved your last book. I’m sorry I never told you.

A couple of days ago, I sent a quote of his to a friend: “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.”

He later described the Bush administration as “upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography”.

True terror indeed - the members of the high school class who are running the country aren’t even the smart ones.

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By dawhistler, April 12, 2007 at 9:07 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Goodbye Mr. Vonnegut...and thank you.

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