Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: Donuel
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 09:47 PM

HE IS STILL ALIVE !!!!!!!!!!!! in a way

I just heard him read his interviews that he did from beyond the grave.

In this work...

What he did was hire Kevorkian to send him into the light, somehere between the blue light and the Pearly Gates and interviewed people who had already died. He interviewed people like Eugene Debs.

The interviews are priceless.

I heard them read by Kurt himself just today on NPR.

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Apr 07 - 11:32 PM

When I was very young and determined to read all the science fiction books in the Needham Public Library I happened upon Player Piano which was a real mind stretcher because while it was very readable it was thoroughly unconventional.

I admire Kurt Vonnegut the man, what he stood for, what he would not stand for, and for those he admired and to some extent resembled(Mark Twain).

I was also moved by his son Mark's book Eden Express.

And So It Goes

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: BK Lick
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 12:57 AM

Many links to audio and video archival material about Vonnegut can be found on this NPR page Click me!.

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: Amos
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 12:32 PM

The man was a master of BS of the most humane sort.

A brief example from an interview:

ONNEGUT Yes. The Shortridge Daily Echo. There was a print shop right in the school. Students wrote the paper. Students set the type. I've always found it easy to write. Also, I learned to write for peers rather than for teachers. Most beginning writers don't
get to write for peers - to catch hell from peers.

INTERVIEWER So every afternoon you would go to the Echo office -

VONNEGUT Yeah. And one time, while I was writing, I happened to sniff my armpits absentmindedly. Several people saw me do it, and thought it was funny - and ever after that I was given the name "Snarf". In the annual for my graduating class, the class of
1940, I'm listed as "Kurt Snarfield Vonnegut, Jr." Technically, I wasn't really a snarf. A snarf was a person who went around sniffing girls' bicycle saddles. I didn't do that. Twerp also had a very specific meaning, which few people know now. Through careless
usage, twerp is a pretty formless insult now.

INTERVIEWER What is a twerp in the strictest sense, in the original sense?

VONNEGUT It's a person who inserts a set of false teeth between the cheeks of his ass.

INTERVIEWER I see.

VONNEGUT I beg your pardon; between the cheeks of his or her ass. I'm always offending feminists that way.

INTERVIEWER I don't quite understand why someone would do that with false teeth.

VONNEGUT In order to bite the buttons off the backseats of taxicabs. That's the only reason twerps do it. It's all that turns them on. ...

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 01:39 PM

Saw an edited set of interviews with Vonnegut on the Charley Rose show. He was interesting in that when Rose asked him about a new book, he explained that he had really said all he had to say. He said "all my books are still in print" and that he saw no need to just 'write for the sake of writing'. He was quite willing to explain and reminisce about his writings...but just laughed when urged to produce more.

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Apr 07 - 08:39 PM

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

- KURT VONNEGUT, 1922-2007

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: Wordsmith
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 04:30 AM

I adore Vonnegut. I feel blessed for having had the ability to read and, then, to have been privileged, as all above in this thread, to have read his books. He was a man of true wisdom, who had no qualms about sharing it. I just came from what's left of the Virginia Tech thread. The juxtaposition is mind-blowing. What would Vonnegut have thought of that? Actually, it's all in his work already. Rest, peacefully!

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: 282RA
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 10:34 AM

Did you know that his brother invented the process of seeding clouds with silver iodide to induce rain?

That's why he says his brother invented rain in Breakfast of Champions. That was my first Vonnegut novel. I've since read most of them. My fave is Sirens of Titan.

Him and Burroughs were my favorite authors. Between them all of the great American novels were produced.

Rented a tent a tent a tent. Rented a tent a tent a tent. Rented a tent, rented a tent. Rented a rented a tent.

Subject: RE: Obit: Farewell, Kurt Vonnegut
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 20 Apr 07 - 02:03 AM

... and his uncle invented the panic bars