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Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: Mnementh on 11 Apr 2007, 21:23

Title: So it goes
Post by: Mnementh on 11 Apr 2007, 21:23
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&hp)"

 :cry:

Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Johnny C on 11 Apr 2007, 21:39
Truly saddening.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: caulfield on 11 Apr 2007, 21:42
yea, there was an artist at effing it up

(whatever "it" may be)

from the moment Billy came unstuck in time to that mystical moment when Kilgore rose up and materialized from the text of the novel in my hands

I WAS ENTHRALLED Mr V... I'll think fondly of you whenever I steal a mirror... Oh! that my confused little heart could but break under the overwhelming weight of this (beautiful*) cosmic joke; alas it simply sighs in petty contemplative introspection

* - tragic
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Inlander on 11 Apr 2007, 23:34
Goodbye, Mr. Vonnegut. I think maybe the world wasn't good enough for you.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Fiddler on 12 Apr 2007, 07:34
I got to see him speak here at OSU this past year.  He was just as awesome to listen to as you'd expect.  He told us that it was going to be the last time he consented to give a public lecture and how he was happy that it was here at Ohio State because it was also the place where he gave one of his first.  Just too bad more people didnt get to hear him speak, he was a really interesting guy with a lot of great stories.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: ThePQ4 on 12 Apr 2007, 08:21
You know...this makes me feel kind of bad that I actually have a copy of Slaughterhouse Five sitting on my desk --that's been on my desk for like three months that I picked up off of the Free-Ledge near the Library Resource Center... Maybe in memoriam I shall read it this weekend. (...Is Memoriam the right/a word? Whatever)
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: ScrambledGregs on 12 Apr 2007, 08:49
This hits me really hard because Vonnegut is my idol and it was one of my dreams to meet him someday. If I become even half the writer, human being, or wonderful personality he was, I will be happy.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Ally on 12 Apr 2007, 13:28
I was so upset to learn this today, but he definitely will not be forgotten.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Mnementh on 12 Apr 2007, 21:04
Goodbye, Mr. Vonnegut. I think maybe the world wasn't good enough for you.

I think that much like he wrote about Mark Twain, he finally "stopped laughing at his own agony and that of those around him. He denounced life on this planet as a crock. He died."

In that context his passing is appropriate, even poetic, and the sad thing is that the world was in such a sorry state when he left.
Title: Kurt Vonnegut is a single beam of unwavering light.
Post by: Beautiful Maladies on 12 Apr 2007, 22:01
I would like to think that Mr. Vonnegut died happy.  He once said something, concerning his "retirement", that comforted me this morning when I found out. I will not put it in quotes, because I can rely only on my memory, but it was something to the effects of his feeling like a flower that, after blooming, is able to rest, believing that it had served some purpose.

Kurt Vonnegut's work changed my life.  I feel today like I have lost a mentor.

Safe journey, Mr. Vonnegut.  If we do indeed spend eternity reliving our lives again and again, I hope that yours proved to be pleasant.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Will on 12 Apr 2007, 23:13
Kurt is in heaven now...

Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Derek Lincoln on 13 Apr 2007, 09:52
I was about to make a "So it goes" topic before I saw this. I do mourn his death, but, frankly, he probably wanted it this way. He had attempted suicide before.

That being said, I was shocked to find out that he had died. He is one of my all-time favorite authors, and his death is another bit of the 20th century dying away.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: caulfield on 13 Apr 2007, 10:29
I was about to make a "So it goes" topic before I saw this. I do mourn his death, but, frankly, he probably wanted it this way. He had attempted suicide before.

That being said, I was shocked to find out that he had died. He is one of my all-time favorite authors, and his death is another bit of the 20th century dying away.

He smoked like a fiend too and is famously quoted as considering cigarettes an acceptable and dignified form of eventual suicide.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: MattBurns on 14 Apr 2007, 11:32
So if I could only read one novel by Mr Vonnegut, which one should it be?
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: jimbunny on 14 Apr 2007, 12:42
I think everyone should read Cat's Cradle, at least as part of any attempt at figuring out what the 20th century was all about. I tried slogging my way through Slaughterhouse 5 and failed half-way through. I should probably try again, though.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Storm Rider on 14 Apr 2007, 19:02
Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle are the classics, I think.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Clara on 15 Apr 2007, 13:41
I did my paper on this guy last year, so I feel like I need to fill a big vacuum all of a sudden.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: Johnny C on 15 Apr 2007, 16:52
I'd start at Breakfast of Champions and work onwards.

Yeah, that's a great starting point. I found a copy for two dollars at Value Village and would rather have it than some books I've bought new.
Title: Re: So it goes
Post by: MattBurns on 16 Apr 2007, 05:49
Indianapolis declared this the Year of Kurt Vonnegut.

http://www.imcpl.org/events/yearofvonnegut/yovevents.html

seems kind of ironic.