Vonnegut, Quickly
Posted on | April 12, 2007 | 2 Comments
Kurt Vonnegut died. Like many nerdly types, I devoured his novels in junior high. Hell, I even got a teacher to let me use BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS for a class project, and I remember drawing assholes on the chalkboard in front of the class.
While he is understandably lauded for CAT’S CRADLE and SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, my two favorite Vonnegut novels are ones that don’t receive the same attention: THE SIRENS OF TITAN, which, for my money, is easily his most clever and nihilistic, and MOTHER NIGHT, a remarkably touching tale with the amazingly… true phrase, “We are what we pretend to be.”
I was pleased to see how mentally agile Vonnegut remained as he aged. His appearance on The Daily Show a couple years back (where Jon couldn’t contain his fanboyness) delighted.
Though, for those of us who idolized him, I find this story of Justin Hall’s very grounding. Vonnegut, at least in 1995, reviled computer-mediated communication, and didn’t see it’s remarkable potential for bringing people together. Nobody’s perfect.
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April 12th, 2007 @ 8:50 am
I think you’ll enjoy our loving video tribute to this great author:
http://digg.com/videos/people/Kurt_Vonnegut_Tribute
September 1st, 2007 @ 12:41 am
Anthomy…
This was one time where I have to agree to disagree…