With the April 11 death of Senior Editor Kurt Vonnegut, In These Times lost a dear friend. And the world lost a man who kept his moral compass always pointed in the right—excuse me, left—direction. Kurt never ceased to be outraged by man’s inhumanity to man. And while he could always find a corner of joy in the world—the fate… return to article
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Reader Comments (28)Page 1 of 1 pagesMemories of Kurt
The General in the bed next to Billy complaining to someone about how Billy has these recurrent nightmares and he has to listen to him beg for surrender and planning retreats in his sleep. The fantasy of how the aliens that had abducted him and put him in the zoo. Their explanation to zoo visitors of how Billys species viewed reality; looking through a long, large pipe attached to a car on a moving train. He saw only what appeared through the pipe. The trains themselves had no bias, but once you lay out the tracks thats the path they followed. I thought this was one of his finest metaphors to the mass consciousness.
I have used the word karass countless time over the years, and still consider Cats Cradle his best novel overall. I would love to know if there is any quote out there where Kurt comments on a dispute a few years back and now recurring about new agricultural chemicals that could keep plants from freezing. Ice-6?
Working often part time within a variety of different school districts, I had the opportunity to promote reading Kurts novels to thousands of young students. But reading has become a lost art. I wonder if the next Vonnegut to come along will attract enough eyeballs to enable them to do it full time.
I would love to read fond recollections of other readers to his books. Doing so might will inspire me to share more of countless impressions, and others to do likewise. A sort of digital wake, where we all share insights and laughter we attained while reading his words. Somehow I suspect that is just the kind of Tribute Kurt would want, especially here on ITT. A Google search on him was how I found this site, and Im sure many others. Not only was this site his declared ‘home,’ but his last written words appeared in this forum. Quite an honor; I hope we will prove worthy.
Farewell Kurt. You will always live in our thoughts.--Arpie
Posted by recursive prophet on Apr 13, 2007 at 3:03 PM Kurt is in heaven now.
His favorite joke! As a 20-something smart-ass, I have (God willing), a good part of my life ahead of me, and thanks to Mr. Vonnegut and the common sense he preached I have something to share with the world--not my own intellectual property, but something to share nonetheless. After reading “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” and the words (more or less), “There’s but one rule we all have to learn: Goddamnit you’ve got to be kind to one another!” I was hooked. What else is there to say? Years from now when I start a family, or join another family I should say, I can honestly say to them that there is beauty in the world and all the evidence I would need is Mr. Vonnegut and what he gave us. I do not mourn him, I doubt he’d want that. He is alive in millions of other moments so why should I? Why should any of us? Take the tube off of our collective face, jump off the damn railroad tracks, and look around at the beautiful scenery he left in his wake, at what we are missing out on by lamenting his demise (or anyone’s demise--even that of our country’s sense of justice and liberty). So, what moment should we choose to “see”? The moments that held us captivated with the faint light present in this world, the light that Vonnegut revealed to all of us. Adios, au revoire, and aloha, Mr. Vonnegut.
Posted by karabekian on Apr 13, 2007 at 3:38 PM Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.
Thank you Mr. Vonnegut.
Posted by David in Canuckistan on Apr 13, 2007 at 4:19 PM Unfortunately we lost one of the greatest satirists and writer’s of all time.
so it goes
Posted by dean on Apr 13, 2007 at 5:10 PM I read Cats Cardle after getting out of Navy and a tour in Viet Nam, I swear it saved my life......think I will go have a Pall Mall
Posted by snidley whiplash on Apr 13, 2007 at 7:13 PM I wasn’t necessarily saddened by Mr Vonnegut’s death, since he was quite elderly and none of us live forever. I only became more grateful for his life on learning of his passing. I collected extra paperback books I had around the house that had been written by Kurt Vonnegut and brought them to work to share with other people, because I felt the only way to honour his life was to share what he had written with other people who may not have been exposed to his writing. I had 2 or more copies of many of his books, and several copies of his son Mark’s book ( I work in Psych). I was surprised to see how fast people grabbed at the books in spite of the media interest generated by Mr. Vonnegut’s passing and to learn how many had read at least one of his books before.
Mr Vonnegut leaves a beautiful body of literature that promotes empathy, humanity and community, and he will never be missed because he will always be here among us through his writings.
minerva_jones
Posted by minerva_jones on Apr 14, 2007 at 2:50 AM The Wampeter of our Karass is missing
With the passing of Kurt Vonnegut comes the end of an era. Who will the torch be passed on to?
Unfortunately Mr. Vonnegut was one of the few voices who spoke in a rational manner about all the irrational things that humans do. There is no one on the scene who can make you laugh about things that make you cry like Mr. Vonnegut did.
He had a good run, and stated things that needed to be said. He stood up for justice, peace, and common decency (which is missing in mainstream media, government, and corporate America).
I am left with a feeling of sadness combined with a sense of appreciation knowing that there was at least one person who could speak to the truth so eloquently. He will be missed.
My tribute to him:
http://www.wordsareimportant.com/kurtvonnegut.htm
Posted by password on Apr 14, 2007 at 4:32 PM Never read his stuff except for some pieces in The Nation. IHR likes his Dresden book though. Any recommendations ?
Posted by blondemike on Apr 16, 2007 at 3:01 PM I loved Slaughterhouse Five (refs Dresden), both the book and the film. Wouldn’t mind becoming unstuck in time as a personal fate. The idea fairly captivated me when I was a boy.
(Spending the rest of my life as a zoo exhibit for extraterrestrials with Valerie Perrine/Montana Wildhack as co-beast wouldn’t be such a bad destiny either)
The other of his books that I found quite powerful was Player Piano, which has a distinctly different tone from his more whimsical stuff, more serious while still preserving the imaginitive quality I enjoy in his work. A quick read, but thought-provoking.
I did find all the Magic Marker jazz kind of tedious, asterisk sphincters and all that. Was that Breakfast of Champions? One of the few films I actually walked out of. Book didn’t hold me either.
Keep your eyes peeled for the Handicapper General, may her shells fizzle and her trigger mechanism get stuck on Safety. Victory to Harrison Bergeron.
Thanks KV, peace be with ya.
Posted by Kuya on Apr 17, 2007 at 1:57 AM “He [kilgore trout] planned to tell the people out there what he hoped to have in the way of a tombstone.
This was it:SOMEBODY
{sometime to sometime}
He Tried”
Posted by kswindl on Apr 17, 2007 at 10:22 PM Well yes, so it goes. That does not make it any better as he knew too. You are country without Vonnegut and here in Europe we lost an American we appreciated and loved because he took care never to stand on the wrong side of the golden rope. I’m 66 and I wait as he did to be free to be no-one.
Posted by yolo on Apr 18, 2007 at 12:24 PM When I moved from Argentina to Costa Rica I had to leave most of my books behind for weight matters. Fortunately Kurt’s were small and light (on the outside) so I brought them with me and only last week I was lucky enough to find an old copy of his “Jailbird” in a second hand store. I had never read that one and as with all his writings I couldn’t put it down. That made me go back to his other books and I found them as wise as ever., so I can say my last 10 days have been devoted to the “master” . When I opened my mail right now I couldn’t believe he had died. No mention to him was on the news or local papers. Anyway, dean, maybe he had no country (why would anybody need one?)but he surely had many humane beings who loved him and were helped by him to think clearly. Ave, Kurt, I salute you.
Posted by Maria on Apr 18, 2007 at 2:22 PM Kurt was like the grandfather we never had. Once, I nearly wrote to him to say, but I put it off. Now, it’s too late.
I loved all his books. It was like hanging out with him, and it was good to spend time with Kurt. He could tell us about the world. We could laugh and be sad.
Not many people talk about “Slapstick”. It was about everything falling apart, and how terrible it is to be separated from someone you love. “Lonesome no more” it proclaimed, vaingloriously. A quote that went around my house for a while was this: “A little less love and a little more common decency.” Yes, it’s good to laugh.
Hi ho.
Posted by carbon14 on Apr 18, 2007 at 6:54 PM many pages,many thoughts,many thanks.it is said of so few that they made a difference....left the world a better place....thank-you for the difference in me,blessings to all you touched Kurt. and so our struggle for a just world.................continues
Posted by edwin fagan on Apr 18, 2007 at 8:05 PM I was fortunate to see Mr Vonnegut at a lecture in St Paul MN a few years ago just after the publication of his book Bagombo Snuff Box. He was magnificent. Thank you, KV, for all the great books and essays over the years. Saudade.
Posted by zotty on Apr 19, 2007 at 12:26 AM Hi,Y’all
Like many others,I was quite dismayed to hear of Mr.Vonnegut’s death. He was the first real writer I had read(by real,I don’t mean one who writes for children or adolescents solely)having been given a copy of Cat’s Cradle by my mother when I was fourteen.Needless to say, I loved it. I also became quite familiar with right-wing hatred when my father,a staunch republican forbade me to read any more Vonnegut under the pretense that Vonnegut was a pinko. Within a year I had read everything by Vonnegut I could get my hands and eyes on.
With the passing of Mr. Vonnegut, the world becomes that much more drab and gullible; to say nothing of losing another rational thinker.
blondemike,
try reading---
Wampeters,Foma,and Granfalloons( this is a collection of his essays )Dead-Eye Dick
Slapstick
Slaughter-House Five(the “dresden book")
Welcome to the Monkey-House ( I read “Harrison Bergeron in 9th grade English-- back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The story is brilliant and, once read, indelible.
Mother Night (if you find the idea of brown shirts to be ridiculous, wear Depends when reading this book.You will wet yourself laughing)
“Whoever told you a chinaman was colored?”
-Robert Sterling Wilson, the Black Fuhrer of HarlemNot to mention the book encapsulates a an idea I had mulled but couldn’t properly put into words--that there are men in the world who think with their guts instead of theri heads.
Frankly, Blondemike, if you pick up any of Vonnegut’s books you won’t go wrong.
Ta-Ta! Or in honor of Mr. Vonnegut, hi-ho!
Posted by Aunty Rightwing on Apr 22, 2007 at 2:06 PM And so it goes…
My all time favorite writer died. His books and short stories kept me entertained everytime I read, and reread them. He was so witty, and so real. What he said made the kind of common sense politicians are afraid of, and children understand. Like, the Nobel peace prize winner who helped the atomic bomb come to fruition, however, he was unable to attend to accept the award, so his wife, a pediatrician, accepted it for him. Cliche, for of course the irony is laid out so cleverly in all his works. Selfishly, I wish he would have stuck around a little longer. He was my hero because he understood so much about the way it goes.We will miss you Mr. Vonnegut!
Sandra
Posted by Grasshopperisin on Apr 23, 2007 at 8:42 PM Oh, recommendations… Palm Sunday is a great book!
Posted by Grasshopperisin on Apr 23, 2007 at 8:47 PM “Aunty” I didn’t know they read him in Texas ?
So how often are you “Texas Independent”
and how often “Aunty” ? Do you require a
scorecard to differentiate between your multiple
selves ?
Posted by bostonblackie on Apr 24, 2007 at 11:28 AM Thank you Mr. Vonnegut!
I´m from Czech Republic and thanks to this great man and writer I belive that in the USA live several good people yet. Finally there (in the Czech Republic) it is appearing a truth book A Man Without a Country. I can say that all informations, which Kurt Vonnegut wrote to American people are truth. I´m an European.
There is few people like Kurt Vonnegut in this world. We miss him.Requiescat In Pace.
Tereza Cajthamlová
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