So it goes... RIP Mr. Vonnegut.

Cafe Society
61

So color me morbidly depressed today. He was one of my heroes. One of the great humanists.

I was fortunate enough to hear him speak three times, twice in Pittsburgh and once in Maine. He attended Carnegie Mellon when it was still Carnegie Tech and he sang (poorly), the Carnegie Tech fight song. There may not be anybody left who knows that song now. Also, his comparison of how the plot Hamlet could be diagrammed as a sine wave was really funny. And my favorite line from all three of his talks went something like, “if you’ve heard me speak before you may hear some things you’ve heard me say before. But I contend that had Jesus lived long enough, he’d have started repeating himself too.” I still chuckle about that line.

Truly one of the great American writers. We’ll miss you Kurt.

62

Hello Goodbye Hello

63

Kurt Vonnegut was my first literary obsession. I read all of his books I could get my hands on between the ages of 13-16 - made me real popular at summer camp let me tell you :slight_smile: I loved his style and his ability to seem hopeful despite the [often mundane] horrors he wrote of. I was bizarrely excited when I found out a friend of my father’s had almost bought an old house of Vonnegut’s in Indianapolis.

RIP, Mr Vonnegut.

64

But hey! You have the tickets!

My brother had tickets for Frank Sinatra’s last concert tour. When he cancelled, he turned them in for the refund. Then Sinatra died. My brother really wished he’d just let the money go & kept the tickets.

Btw, re-read your story and tell me Kurt wouldn’t add “So it goes.”

65

I can never again look at an asterisk without thinking “asshole.” He was a treasure.

66

What a crappy thing to hear first thing in the morning as the radio comes on. I’ve been sort of expecting this for the last couple years but it still sucks. He was one of my favorite writers. I feel very fortunate to have seen him speak twice at the University of Kansas over the years. What an amazing person.

67

I combined all three threads into one giant Supah Thread. Just so you know.

68

I just saw this now, I read the entire Times Obit and this thread. I am really saddened by his passing. I last saw him on the Daily Show. Jon Stewart treated him with a reverence I have never seen from Mr. Stewart. A reverance I share with him.

His novels were such a important part of my reading in my teens and tweens. His quick cameo in “Back to School” was one of the best jokes in a very funny movie.

I like the Requiem he wrote:

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.

So it goes,
Jim

69

I can neither confirm nor deny, as I did not attend the actual commencement, because I went to see the Ramones instead. In retrospect, I kind of suck, although I suppose Kurt might have thought I did the right thing.

70

Wow. What can I say that hasn’t already been said.

I’ll just add my name to the long list of those who have enjoyed and learned from his writings and are sad to see him go.

71

Ting-a-ling.

72

Godspeed, Mr. Vonnegut. Thanks for everything.

73

Probably my favorite author.

R.I.P. Mr Vonnegut.

74

I love Vonnegut’s stuff. For many years, The Sirens of Titan was my favorite book; I must have read it 30 times. Unk/Malachi and Beatrice and Winston Niles Rumfoord are still my favorite of his characters, and really my favorites in all of literature except for Mr. & Mrs. MacBeth, which is pretty good company.

Now that I’m an old fart, I think I prefer Breakfast of Champions. It was written 35 years ago, but is more current now than ever. Odd to think that Vonnegut was younger than I am now when he wrote it. So it goes.

So, farewell to the master of the declarative sentence.

75

We must be kindred souls - that’s exactly how I feel.

My own Vonnegut anecdote: In 1997, Midway College ran some ads in the Lexington (KY) paper that Vonnegut was coming to the library for a free, casual chat with whomever wanted to show up. It was scheduled for November 8th.

I called them up and asked, “Are you baking him a cake?”

After an extended silence, no doubt wondering what kind of eccentrics were going to be attending this thing, the person asked, “Why would we do that?”

I replied, “Because he’s coming to your college three days before his 75th birthday.”

Over the next week, they were calling me, as if I’d ever met the man, wondering what they should put on the cake.

After his library chat, he and the college president (an old Army buddy of his, apparently) retired to a conference room. We could go talk to KV one-on-one, but first we had to buy the $75 poster that was a KV self-portait advertising Midway college.

I snagged a poster and went on in. The president told him that I was the guy whose idea it was to do the cake thing. He was very gracious and thanked me for being so thoughtful. And then he autographed my poster, dating it November 11, 1997, as if he had signed it on his actual 75th birthday. :slight_smile: I had that thing in a frame before I even got home from the lecture.

Sagan’s gone, Zappa’s gone, and now Vonnegut’s gone. :frowning: I don’t like this “getting old” stuff.

76

Aw, daaaaaaamn.

Vonnegut was probably the first writer of quality that I went through – he led me out of the ghetto of juvenile science fiction. His narrative was so conversational and personal. Like Spalding Gray, I usually have to think about it a bit when I try to remember if I’ve met him personally.

I am currently re-reading a collection of his early short fiction, Bagombo Snuff Box.

Last night I read the titular story in bed, and its closing struck a chord with me about settling into middle age. I sheepishly hoped my GF wouldn’t notice that my eyes were moist and ask why. (She didn’t.)

Now I have to hope the same of my co-workers. :frowning:

77

Man, that’s depressing. For me, KV wasn’t a writer, he was the writer. No one else has ever moved me as he did. Rest in peace, Kurt!

“I was the victim of a series of accidents… as are we all.”

78

A titan among writers. Without a doubt my favourite writer of all time. No-one else has taught me so much about writing simply by writing himself. No-one else has had me envy his talent and ability so much.

79

That simple, conversational style of his – almost like he was writing for children – is something that I’ve tried repeatedly to imitate in my own writing and I’ve found it all but impossible. It seems like it should be so easy but it isn’t. I always just end up sounding condescending rather than intimate. I’ve read Breakfast of Champions repeatedly trying to figure out how he managed to wring so much melencholy and depth of thought out of such simple prose. I still can’t put my finger on it. It’s like a magic trick. There was no other writer like him.

80

po-tee-weep