mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
I could handle it — just barely — when we lost B.C. creator Johnny Hart earlier this week. But this is where I draw the line: yesterday, Kurt Vonnegut died at the age of 84. Far from feeling meh about it, I feel a floss-style eulogy is in order:
Things you didn’t know about towering literary figures Part V, dead guy edition: Kurt Vonnegut
- The asteroid 25399 Vonnegut is named in his honor
- Vonnegut played himself in a cameo in 1986’s Back To School, in which he is hired by Rodney Dangerfield’s Thornton Melon to write a paper on the topic of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. Recognizing the work as not Melon’s own, Professor Turner tells him, “Whoever did write this doesn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut.”
- In fashioning “instructions” for writing short stories, Vonnegut said “Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”
- In 1945, Vonnegut was awarded a Purple Heart for what he called a “ludicrously negligible wound.”
- After leaving the army, he reported for Chicago’s City News bureau, then joined the public relations department of General Electric - a job he loathed.
- On May 14, 1944, Mothers’ Day, his mother, Edith Lieber Vonnegut, committed suicide.
- In the novel Timequake, Vonnegut writes that his alter-ego, Kilgore Trout, (also) dies at the age of eighty-four.
I was never a fan of his writing but he was great to listen to during interviews.
His work was too dark and down for me.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 4-12-2007 at 11:05 am
I may have to reread “God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian” in his honor. A great book about the afterlife. Very Fitting.
posted by Kevin on 4-12-2007 at 11:11 am
Kurt Vonnegut has been my favorite author since the first time I read “Who Am I This Time?” from “Welcome to the Monkey House” 7 years ago. He was a brilliant man who always made me look at some aspect of life a little bit differently than I had before when I read one of his books or short stories.
posted by Rebekka on 4-12-2007 at 12:50 pm
I was at a bar last night and I got a text message from a friend in Hawaii breaking the news. I dropped my phone and had to contain myself from completely losing it right there…
posted by Jordan on 4-12-2007 at 1:24 pm
I discovered Kurt Vonnegut at the age of 10 (more years ago than I care to count) when I first read Harrison Bergeron in the Welcome to the Monkey House anthology of short stories. I immediately felt less alone, less odd, less different and I fell in love with the man responsible for those wonderful words. I suppose I’ve been in love with him ever since, this person I’ve never met who knew me so well.
Vonnegut’s eloquence, both on the written page and through the spoken word, have always provided a spark of rationalism and a humanitarian point of view that is so lacking in today’s world. I will truly miss his sense of humor, biting satire, and pointed criticism. I disagree with the writer who claimed Vonnegut’s work was too dark and down; his words merely served to shed light upon and bring sense to a dark world.
Humanists unite! And thank God that we shared the planet with such a unique being. Good night Mr. Rosewater.
And so it goes…
posted by Memory470 on 4-12-2007 at 3:05 pm
I was also sad to hear Vonnegut’s death — I saw him on a roundtable (including Heller) at FSU about ten years ago. I asked him if he were starting out, would he write for the movies? His response was, more or less: “If I wanted to make a living I would.”
And one nitpick — Kilgore Trout was apparently based on the sci-fi short story author Theodore Sturgeon, and I think his status as an alter-ego came later, as Vonnegut himself became more like Sturgeon (though a heck of a lot more successful). Sturgeon is a great writer as well — I’ve been working my way through his (many) short story collections.
posted by Higgins on 4-12-2007 at 3:23 pm
The name of the movie was called “Back to Class” which starred Rodney Dangerfield. The pretense was that Dangerfield was a very wealthy entrepreneur who ‘helps’ his son in College. At one point, Vonnegut is hired to help out with a Literature paper. It wasn’t appreciated, but I would have loved it.
posted by Buzz on 4-12-2007 at 3:38 pm
Being an English major, I’m embarassed to say this, but until about a month ago I was not familiar with Vonnegut’s work. The Special Collections at my school’s library has a fairly large holding on him in their manuscript collection and had a bunch of them on display last year, which admittedly did not pay much attention to.
I work at said Special Collections (nerd heaven) and was asked to photocopy a bunch of his letters for an author writing a biography. I thought he was hilarious. In one letter, he wrote about going on vacation and not getting laid. Plus, there were some copies of contracts and reviews and various things, and that was just nifty to look at. Seemed like a phenomenal guy.
posted by Kate on 4-12-2007 at 7:14 pm
Goodbye to Kurt Vonnegut.
He is in Heaven now.
posted by J Carson on 4-13-2007 at 2:49 am
So it goes.
Player Piano is still one of my favorite books.
posted by Bill T. on 4-13-2007 at 10:58 am
I’ll never forget his discussion of, and rendition of, an a*hole in his introduction to Cat’s Cradle. This was my introduction to his sense of humor in a dark world combined with his stellar story-telling ability. My favorite author of all time.
posted by Russ on 4-13-2007 at 1:54 pm
J Carson -
Beat me to it, curse you!
Him and Issac. And, I suppose, Johnny…
posted by Thursday on 4-13-2007 at 6:39 pm
*
posted by Johnny Cat on 4-14-2007 at 4:12 pm
I was on vacation in Washington DC, relaxing and reading Breakfast of Champions, when my mom handed me the obituaries - Kurt Vonnegut had died. What an awesomely strange guy! I hope the next generation find Vonnegut as refreshing as I did.
posted by Edward on 4-15-2007 at 7:45 am