Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Dies At 84

Posted by kdawson on from the unstuck-in-time dept.

At least twenty-two readers took the trouble to make sure we knew that Kurt Vonnegut has died at 84. From the Times obituary: "Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' 'Cat's Cradle' and 'God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater' caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan... Mr. Vonnegut suffered irreversible brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago, according to his wife, Jill Krementz." Reader SPK adds: "He will be remembered not only as a great writer, but also as a staunch civil libertarian (long-term member of the ACLU) and as a 'mainstream/literary' author who integrated science fiction concepts into his writing. So it goes."

12 of 380 comments (clear)

  1. I'd easily have traded all of hollywood, by Spazntwich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    to give that man 10 more years.

    The world is truly poorer for his loss. :-(

    1. Re:I'd easily have traded all of hollywood, by Aladrin · · Score: 5, Funny

      What if ... What if we already did? Would explain a lot of things about Hollywood.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  2. Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Kurt's up in heaven now..

    1. Re:Well by jamie · · Score: 5, Informative

      Anonymous cowards can be funny sometimes. By way of explanation, here's an excerpt from Vonnegut's book God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian:

      I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of regards or punishments after I'm dead. My German-American ancestors, the earliest of whom settled in our Middle West about the time of our Civil War, called themselves "Freethinkers," which is the same sort of thing. My great grandfather Clemens Vonnegut wrote, for example, "If what Jesus said was good, what can it matter whether he was God or not?"

      I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great, spectacularly prolific writer and scientist, Dr. Isaac Asimov in that essentially functionless capacity. At an A.H.A. memorial service for my predecessor I said, "Isaac is up in Heaven now." That was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. It rolled them in the aisles. Mirth! Several minutes had to pass before something resembling solemnity could be restored.

    2. Re:Well by sherpajohn · · Score: 5, Informative

      'Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.' - Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007)

      --

      Going on means going far
      Going far means returning
  3. Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84. by penp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So it goes.

  4. from wikiquote by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Informative

    If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

    THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
    FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
    WAS MUSIC

            * Vonnegut's Blues For America 07 January, 2006 Sunday Herald

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  5. Re:Thanks for the good reads, Kurt by Scott7477 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A big part of my appreciation for Vonnegut lies in the fact that his work has been accepted as literature by the literary elites while including elements of science fiction. Typically science fiction is not considered to be literature.

    --
    "Lack of technical competence coupled with the arrogance of power, as usual, leads to no good end."
  6. Re:Bokononist last rites by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder if he died while thumbing his nose at God.... It would seem a fitting gesture.


    The inability to conceive of a God who would find that amusing is the biggest reason that belief is on the decline.

    The idea of an omnipotent God who creates a creature capable of reason, then throws an eternal hissy fit when that creature doesn't spend all his time telling God how wonderful He is... Well it seems like rather insecure behavior for an all powerful, all loving being.

    A God who didn't want anybody in heaven unless they had the spunk to spit in His eye would make more sense. So Vonnegut, you're in. Give my regards to Twain when you see him.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  7. Re:Bokononist last rites by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

    This reminds me of a sign I pass every morning on my way to work. It is a sign for a Muslim Community Center. Now, I'm not picking on Muslims here, I'm sure there are plenty of Christian churches with similar signage. Anyway, the sign says something to the effect of "Men were created to worship God."

    Every time I pass that sign, it strikes me as funny. After all, how insecure does God have to be to go to all the trouble of creating an entirely new species just to tell him how great he is? Couldn't he have saved himself a lot of trouble by standing in front of a mirror every morning doing self assurance exercises, a la Stuart Smalley? Or maybe some good old fashioned Prozac?

  8. Re:Bokononist last rites by kripkenstein · · Score: 5, Interesting

    [...] the sign says something to the effect of "Men were created to worship God." [...] how insecure does God have to be to go to all the trouble of creating an entirely new species just to tell him how great he is?
    Well, you correctly see that possibility as ridiculous. But monotheists (the 3 major monotheistic religions are perhaps similar enough in that respect) would also see it as ridiculous. So really, you are misunderstanding what they mean when they put up a sign saying "Men were created to worship God."

    It isn't that an omnoipotent god benefits from it somehow, of course he doesn't. To say otherwise is blasphemy, even, for monotheists. However, they believe that the natural state for human beings is to worship god. In other words, people benefit from worshipping god, not vice versa. Note that the quoted sign can be understood both ways.

    Of course, you can raise skeptical doubt about why god would create people at all, and why worshipping him would be good for them. Such doubts are natural, and indeed the major monotheistic religions have had centuries of debate about these topics. So, my point is that the monotheistic belief system (speaking generally) makes more sense than your misinterpretation of that particular sign.

    (To prevent misunderstandings, I am a complete atheist.)
  9. Re:Bokononist last rites by C0y0t3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have to disagree with your interpretation of a pretty straightforward phrase, "men were created to worship god". Although it could be seen as meaning what you suggest, that men benefit from worship, the statement is obvously designed to be at least initially interpretted as "the purpose for which men were created was to worship god, god created us to worship him". You have to bend over pretty far backward to see the other interpretation as primary, but most religious people probably perform these sorts of logical contortions without batting an eye daily if not continuously. theres no need to justify them, controversy is supposed to occur. they are not content with your atheism