Kurt Vonnegut is dead

CptStern

CptStern

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Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Wednesday at age 84, his wife said

The author of at least 19 novels, many of them best-sellers, as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays, Vonnegut relished the role of a social critic
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the man was a genius, rest in peace

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/obit_vonnegut
 
Kurt Vortigaunt?

vortigaunt1copyxb4.gif




J/K.
 
One of the saddest things I have ever heard. Words can't begin to describe his brilliance. I am so so sad right now. AT least we have a huge amount of incredible legacy to cherish.
 
This is such a sad day. I will miss looking forward to his books for a long time to come. At least we have so many incredible works in his library to always have with us. Sad sad sad...;(
 
I'm waiting for rain so I can run out and yell NOOOOOO very dramatically.
 
Guh, does it even matter?

But seeing as it matters so, so much to you, I'll move the posts to this thread.
 
Ennui said:
Stern, your thread was posted at 7 AM and this was posted at 1 AM... unless my sense of time is screwed (which, given the past few days, is possible) YOUR thread is the one that needs to be locked
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I blame anthraxxx


;)


name your fave Vonnegut stories/novels:


Player Piano: you can see the aldous huxley influences

breakfast of champoins: my first vonnegut book

Cat's Cradle: it was ayn rand's the fountainhead/anthem on crack
 
Too bad, I always kinda hoped he'd go in some way that was astoundingly weird. Like being mauled by aliens at a clambake or something equally appropriate.
 
What a bloody genius. It`s the saddest thing when an author you love dies, a terrible feeling to know you will never be able to read a new piece of writing
 
Max35 said:
Well, blame me, I was the one who posted the first thread. Strange, mine was posted first, and it got deleted. Eh well, whatever.
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ya sorry ..anthraxxx posted that I had made this thread 20 mins before you did ..but that wasnt true so there was somewhat of a mix up ...anyways it wont bring Kurt back ;(
 
I dont agree ..sure she wasnt the best writer but you dont read her books for the plot. But yes Vonnegut is a better story teller ..that's not even up for debate ..just read anything by either author and it will leave you with no doubt

what I meant is that Kurt took collectivism/individualism (rand's ideology) and turned it on it's ear by showing that it was just another means of control in both instances
 
CptStern said:
I dont agree ..sure she wasnt the best writer but you dont read her books for the plot

what I meant is that Kurt took collectivism (rand's ideology) and turned it on it's ear by showing that it was just another means of control much like fascism
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Wait a minute, I thought Rand was all about Objectivism? Pretty much the opposite of Collectivism?
 
I was so incredibly depressed when I heard the news this morning. Truly one of the greatest writers of the century. He even had one more book in him, If God Were Still Alive, but we'll likely never see it.

I wanted to just meet him once in my life and shake his hand. His books really changed my life.
 
CptStern said:
yes I edited when I realized I forgot that part
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Aha, right you are. I need to get round to reading Cat's Cradle in that case. If its a critique of Rand I should enjoy it - I find her books to be not only poorly written, but her ideas simplistic and unrealistic and presented in a very hamfisted manner with lots of straw man arguments. Not to mention all the Objectivists i've met are complete prats.
 
It's not really a critique of Rand, I don't really know where Stern's going with that. It's more a critique of science and religion.
 
gick said:
Aha, right you are. I need to get round to reading Cat's Cradle in that case. If its a critique of Rand I should enjoy it - I find her books to be not only poorly written, but her ideas simplistic and unrealistic and presented in a very hamfisted manner with lots of straw man arguments. Not to mention all the Objectivists i've met are complete prats.
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not it's not really a critique of rand ..not directly ..you just have to understand the timeframe it was written in ..rands ideologies were very popular in post war america and into the 50's and early 60's ..in any event, cat's cradle is as much a comment on religion as it was man's place in society and individualism


btw I'm trying to remember all this from my high school days when I actually read cat's cradle and fountainhead (a long, long time ago) ...read cat's cradle again about 5 years ago but I always confuse it with philip k dick's the man in the high castle which is thematically similiar



edit: shit, after reading plot synopses I just realized I've been mistaking player piano with cat's cradle this entire time ..and Dick's the man in the high castle ...pretty much disregard everything I've said to this point or just switch cat's cradle with player piano
 
Both me and my father mourn his passing, especially because we're not Tralfamadorians.

So it goes.

Dammit, I'm going to miss you old man.
 
I just finished reading Slaughterhouse 5 for the first time yesterday.

Incredible.

So it goes.
 
gick said:
Aha, right you are. I need to get round to reading Cat's Cradle in that case. If its a critique of Rand I should enjoy it - I find her books to be not only poorly written, but her ideas simplistic and unrealistic and presented in a very hamfisted manner with lots of straw man arguments. Not to mention all the Objectivists i've met are complete prats.
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QFT QFT QFT.

I loved Slaughterhouse 5 and the other handful of novels/short stories I've read by Vonnegut.
 
I feel dumb by not reading so much books like you
 
there's a ton of great south/central american authors: gabriel garcia marquez, Jorge luis Borges, or even spaniards like garcia lorca ..I'm also sure Vonnegut is printed in spanish as well ..and Vonnegut writes science fiction (more like speculative fiction) so it's not dry boring subjects
 
anyway I suck at reading and sure those books cost hella a lot
but I will see if I get one
 
CptStern said:
the man was a genius, rest in peace

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/obit_vonnegut
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.






NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONONONONONONO

:(

Shame. My favorite writer, hands down.

Mother Night was the only time I ever actually got all teary after reading a book/watching a movie.

Sirens of Titan was immensely wondrous and enthralling. It and Cats Cradle also put me damn near to crying.

And Dr. Kavorkian was hilarious, as was Welcome to the Monkey House.

Terrible loss imo.

I've read near all his book, good reason to getting around to reading the rest I spose.
 
Looks like I've got more to read... and more to mourne.
 
Yeah, its very sad... I gotta find more of his books.

TBH, when I first saw this article I thought it was one of those "dead tired of getting poor cell phone reception!" threads.
 
Wanted Bob said:
Yeah, its very sad... I gotta find more of his books.

TBH, when I first saw this article I thought it was one of those "dead tired of getting poor cell phone reception!" threads.
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I was HOPING that it was "dead tired of getting bad reception in the jungle" threads.

:(
 
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