Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat’s Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973), (see books, texts, bio, references, footnotes etc., on wikipedia).
The remaining picture on his official website.
But see also ‘thE vOnnEgUt wEb‘.
He says: “Don’t use semi-colons. They stand for nothing … they only show you’ve been to college.” He follows this by commenting “All American literature is about how bad it is to be American”. A list ensues, including the Scarlet Letter, Death of a Salesman and Moby Dick. (full text).
And also: “All I wanted to do was support my family,” Vonnegut wrote in 1999. “I didn’t think I would amount to a hill of beans”. (full text).
On wikipedia you’ll get the links to most of the (american) obituary writings, (scroll down).
Kurt Vonnegut – USA (1922 – 2007)
Watch theis Google-Video: 37.59 min. the infinite mind;
ok, just go to Google-Video, put his name in the search tool, and you find pages of more Google-videos from or about Kurt Vonnegut.
And here some YouTube-Videos:
- 8.15 min. Kurt Vonnegut;
- 3.40 min. So it goes (about Kurt Vonnegut 1922 – 2007);
- 2.49 min. Fox News trashes;
- 7.50 min. Kurt Vonnegut;
- 6.23 min. Kurt Vonnegut is The Resident’s People;
- 3.10 Fox News Obituary Trashes Kurt Vonnegut;
- 1.04 min Kurt Vonnegut Speaks with OSU Students;
- 8.43 Kurt Vonnegut.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A hometown celebration of Kurt Vonnegut’s life and literary prowess was highlighted Friday night with the last thing the author wrote – a speech he had planned to deliver himself at Butler University. Vonnegut wrote the 13-page lecture two weeks before he died at age 84 on April 11, said his son, Mark, who spoke on his father’s behalf at the annual McFadden Memorial Lecture. The sold-out event was part of a year-long tribute to the author. Indianapolis officials designated 2007 the « Year of Vonnegut, » with readings and forums intended to encourage people to visit libraries and to read. (full text).
In his latest book Indianan Kurt Vonnegut laments the loss of the country he fought for in WW2. I can understand his confusion. What is one to do given the madness of the present – his advice is just to help each other get through it. Humour helps quite a bit. VP Cheney shooting the occasional big party donor helps a lot too. But what happens when reality can no longer be lampooned or satirized? Even Vonnegut’s fiction may not be enough to help us through these dark days. A good juicy impeachment would raise my spirits considerably. (full text).
He was an old man who lived a full life, yet I grieve at the thought of a world without him. Vonnegut was older than my father, but he was one of the predominant voices that spoke for my generation. He was anti-war and anti-hypocrisy, pessimistic and yet passionate in his concern for the human race. His writing style was fresh, vibrant, exciting. His stories were fantastic, absurdist, and yet profound. He broke the conventional rules of writing in brilliant ways, ultimately creating some new rules for future writers. (full text).
His books: on amazon; on wikipedia; on Google book.
blogs, videos, photos etc. on technorati;
go to Google blog search, put Kurt Vonnegut into the search window, you’ll find n-blogs about him and his work.
links:
Online general-interest book database on wikipedia;