The great American writer, Kurt Vonnegut has died, aged 84.

Early in his career publishers and booksellers found his work difficult to categorize. They didnt know whether it was best to consider his work science fiction, fantasy, or comedy. Their reading of him may have been shallow - the writing wasnt.

His achievements are too numerous to mention but among my favourites are Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5, Deadeye Dick.

Rest, in peace.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6547399.stm

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

may be a "stuppa" but he certainly belonged to a dynamic "karass". I will always treasure his books.

Billy Pilgrim is one of my all time favorite characters...along with the tralfamadorians. It's a sad day.

I remember reading Cat's Cradle as a teenager. It was one of those books that I wasn't sure if I liked or not. I knew it was great novel, but I think there was a bitterness to it that did not agree with me at the time. On the other hand, Vonnegut's imagination appealed to me greatly. While I disagreed with some of what he was trying to say, the novel did help to jump-start parts of my young brain. I would sometimes mentally return to certain scenes from the book- especially when confronted by concepts in the real world, similar to those I had already encountered in Vonnegut's.

Now, his short story "Harrison Bergeron"... that was one of those I liked instantly, and it made me think. Still one of my favorites. If you're not familiar with it, I encourage you to give it a try. It's a fast read.

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One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings. --Diogenes

Teens here at my library are talking about him as I write this...and checking out his books as well. I asked if it was for school and they said no they just liked his stuff. Pretty awe inspiring for books that old to still have that kind of following amongst skater kids!

My favorite Vonnegut character was Kilgore Trout

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" Sarah Palin HAS elected BARACK Obama THE PRESIDENT"

Ohh, that was Kurt Vonnegut? When I first read it, I thought it was Nietzsche. You know. Cause it says Nietzsche was onto something. Strange, cause that was the exact place I read it first.. oh well.

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Political compass results: -9.00, -6.97 (council communist, evidently, which is much against totalitarianism and Stalin and such)

"In Soviet Russia, statement quotes YOU!!"

process complete.

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And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

I've never read any of his books.

I did read somewhere that he never revised his work, that he painstakingly refused to put a single word on paper unless he felt it was perfect, exactly what he wanted it to be.

I hope he was able to find that level of perfection in his own life, and doesn't have to come back for revisions.

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WARNING: In the unlikely event of an accidental agreement with any or all points made in the above post, contact a clinical psychologist immediately.

The views expressed in the above post are not necessarily those of Joker and/or any of his affiliates.

. "You have found the secret message. Do you have too much time on your hands? ...Let it go."

maybe hes gonna be shot out of a cannon. that will show em.

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And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.