Kurt Vonnegut is dead, alas.He was a strange and interesting man.
I haven't read his books in years, and his later stuff never really grabbed me.
But I have fond memories of the times when I was eagerly devouring his early works. "Welcome to the Monkey House," "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," "Player Piano" and "Sirens of Titan" all still stick in my mind, as does my first Vonnegut immersion into "Slaughterhouse-Five" back in high school.
I also had the pleasure of seeing him give the commencement speech at Agnes Scott College many years ago.
In that speech he said:
Incidentally, if somebody asks you whether you are a Liberal or a Conservative, tell 'em this:Ah, sweet granfalloons....
"Listen, Buster — I'm a graduate of Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, zipcode, 30030. They taught me to think for myself there. You want to know if I'm a Liberal or a Conservative? I'm both of those, and neither one.
"Go jump in the lake. Go climb a tree."
RIP, Kurt Vonnegut
UPDATE, Fri., April 13: You can listen to fellow strange-and-dead author Philip K. Dick talking about Kurt Vonnegut in a 1981 interview here.
Kurt Vonnegut | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com
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