I had the pleasure of hearing Kurt Vonnegut speak my freshman year of college; he was so entertaining and I learned a lot from him in the short hour that he spoke to us. The one thing that sticks out in my mind was how his reclusive nature was evident at the reception. It seemed that every English professor had assigned the task of talking to Mr. Vonnegut, and he was beseiged by 20 students at once. He was obviously nervous and looking for a way out, but he talked to us nonetheless. I will miss him and his work terribly.

Thank you for this article. I too discovered Kurt Vonnegut in the junior high library, Breakfast of Champions was the first. I was amazed that someone could discuss very serious, sometimes horrific subjects without ever straying from that down to earth, simplistic style. I truly felt touched by him, and since have never gone very long without returning to a beloved Vonnegut book.

As an English major, I was sort of conditioned to think of great authors as, well, dead guys. But it was always a great and joyful shock to me to know that Vonnegut was truly a legendary author living as my contemporary. Now that he's gone, he will join the rank of "dead guys" for students to come, but he will always remain special to me, and very much "living." Poo-tee-weet.

Thank you very much, Kurt, for helping me see through the illusions, the lies, the bull... and most of all for making me laugh... may you find yourself in a better place.

hi while I read daily I have not read a "fiction" book in yrs. I will start again. We were reading these as teens along with lord of the rings and fear and loathing etc. Forgot how much I truly hung out in the right places this guy was at the hot sprgs in my hometown in co. for a few days hangin out like the reast of us and no one really realized who he was until he was ready to leave and as kind of a thank you for not bothering him a few guys and him went to town and he bought "supplies" for everyone beer, food etc. wow. way cool now i,m older and depressed and find myself sharing so many of the same thoughts . dead id dead. k.v. "life is short paint it pink"---wichita rick

I re-read the following dystopias/commentaries (for lack of more inclusive terms) in the weeks following 9-11: A Brave New World, Armies in the Night, 1984, and Slaughterhouse-Five. (In the following years I read Gore's books on Bush and Oil as well.) They all resonated, but S-Five just somehow pushed me deeper into my own head. I am so grateful for authors/veterans of WWII. They just plain knew/know so damn much.

I have saved most of Kurt Vonnegut's paperbacks, tattered and torn from the past 30 odd years, an unusual habit for me. His writing, a fusion of Shakespeare and Picasso, has a special way of intimately embracing the reader, letting one in on a secret. Life, particularly mankind, is a satire, sometimes compassionate, seemingly so often selfish and ugly, but always a grand cosmic joke. May his thoughts drift through our minds, our imaginations, remind us of humanity and our voices for as long as luck will keep our "civilization" afloat. And so it goes Kurt Vonnegut.

I first came to know Kurt Vonnegut's work during my freshman year of college. After being raised in a small rural community, Kurt's work changed me. After reading Kurt's early novels, I felt empathy for the enitre human race.

For all the vast & varied quantity of reading I have done in the 63 years that I have inhabited this planet, none has resonated to the core of my being like the writing of Kurt Vonnegut. To be able to look at the absurdity of human behavior, at times in its rawest, brutal form, and stare it down with a delicate blend wit and insane resignation, is a talent that I fear we will never see again. Of course, if Kurt heard that statement, he would immediatly write about the ten million clones of this 20th century obscure, esoteric cult writer, and the franchise merchandise bearing his resemblance. Rest well. Your work will continue to pour a fragrant balm on the jagged wounds of our foley.

I come from a younger set (I'm 18) who discovered Vonnegut's work from stealing my dad's paperback of "Galapagos" off his bookshelf. My real love for Vonnegut started last year when I chose "Slaughterhouse-Five" as the topic of my major research paper that year... I've loved Vonnegut ever since. I hate that I never had the chance to hear him speak (he once spoke at the college I will be attending next year, but I was seven years old at the time!!). The world truly lost someone special today, but hopefully those of my generation and the generations to follow will continue to pick up the works of a true genious like Vonnegut. I can relate a lot to the grocery store worker--I talk about Vonnegut frequently, in the chances that someone else will discover and enjoy the genious within.

So it goes...I stumbled on Galapagos years ago, while trawling 2nd hand book stores & thus begat my fascination with Vonnegut. I started re-reading them all last year after discovering Fates Worse Than Death & my admiration for this literary genius continues to grow. Now Kurt will discover his 'wampeter' & know who was in his 'karass'. I have told my family I want the Bokonon Last Rites read at my funeral... I wonder if they will be read at Kurt's?

I got into Vonnegut from my English professor Jerry Klinkowitz at Northern Illinois University in 1970-71. I never read anyone like Vonnegut, so laugh-out-loud funny. Well, I've been teaching English for 31 years and I still read Vonnegut, the Mark Twain of the 20th century. God Bless You Mr.Vonnegut! Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. Ed McIntyre

Every time I hear about grade schools outlawing tag or other contact games; or about "competitive" sports being eliminated in favor of games in which everyone wins; or about school curriculum, uh, curriculae, uh, whatever it's called (see, it's happening already) being dumbed down so the slower kids (read: "MR," "LD," "ADD," "insert-your-acronym-here") in the group won't feel left out - I think of Harrison Bergeron - the story that I read as a seventh-grader in 1979 and that gave me the stone-cold willies for no less than a month. I STILL see Harrison and the ballet dancer flying up to the studio lights - free of their weights and shackles - in the last, glorious and subversive moments before their inevitable, violent and deadly crash back to earth. Vonnegut's seemingly innocent writing style contrasted so well with his disturbing themes that we were all forced to look at ourselves (and what we were capable of/heading towards) through his glass. I haven't read anything of his for years, but think about what I've read of his almost daily. As with other great writers, I am selfishly grateful to them for what they have done for me (never mind the rest of y'all!) and Vonnegut made me think, question, and laugh. RIP

About ten or maybe it was a dozen years ago, KV gave an evening lecture in Dallas at SMU's Meadows Auditorium. It was funny, memorable and even had a chalkboard explanation of how to graph stories. Afterwards, KV met some of us fans at the 8.0 bar and grill in the Dallas Quadrangle. I arrived before the crowd, the place was empty of any business. I ordered a veggie burger to while the time away. When he and a coterie of young fans arrived , I patiently waited my turn to speak to him. He had a couple of belts, and was working on a third, a scotch. I made the usual adorative fan noise and then mentioned that Josh Alan Friedman, a friend of mine (and one half of the Friedman of the book, Any Resemblance To Persons Living Or Dead ...) fame now lived in Dallas. Kurt Vonnegut had recently wrote of forward to their latest comic collection Josh and his brother Drew had published, Warts And All. Kurt eyed me, reeled back on his stool at the bar and barked, "What the hell is he doing, living in Dallas, Texas?" My pipsqueak answer, was, "He did it for love, he followed his wife to Texas." He eyed me warily, looked thoughtful, looked at his drink, then looked confused. He had no reply to my answer. " Would you care to sign my book?", I proffered a large paperback edition of Jailbird. He quickly took it. "Oh sure, sure." He signed it with his name and his famous asterisk. We chatted some about what I've been writing, the crowd around us had already thinned for some reason, there was about twenty or thirty customers there finding tables and stools, ordering drinks, food, talking loud.Finally, I left him in peace with the event handler and P.R. person and went off.

I had the pleasure of sharing a cab with Mr. Vonnegut after a lecture in New York in 1988. He read from the book by Rosario Santos, "And We Sold The Rain" Contemporary Fiction from Central America. As I got out of the cab,he handed me the book...When I got on my train to Long Island I noticed all his margin notes. He has changed my life for the better. I will always love him. My library is full of signed first editions collected through the years.

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut When I think about my own death, I don't console myself with the idea that my descendents and my books and all that will live on. Anybody with any sense knows that the whole solar system will go up like a celluloid collar by-and-by. I honestly believe, though, that we are wrong to think that moments go away, never to be seen again. This moment and every moment lasts forever. -Kurt Vonnegut I heard about the death of my hero, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 84, around 7 a.m. It felt like a sharp jab to the stomach. I continued with my morning routine, showered, got ready and left for work. In New York City today it was pouring, not your average drizzle that dusts right off your clothes with a flick of a wrist, but a towering downpour, equipped with gusts of ripping wind that actually bended my umbrella in half. I proceeded onto the dreary den of my Brooklyn subway stop, and found myself bombarded by a mass of downtrodden subway riders, a very familiar New York City scene. I looked around and examined the faces of the commuters, the stoic, empty glares, each crammed into the maze and often hysteria of New York City life. I felt like a tiny spoke in a much broader, meaner economic and social wheel, a wheel perpetually in a vicious motion, stopping for no one along the way. I got as far as the Whitehall stop in Manhattan and turned around. Not today, not on the day my hero died. With the passing of Kurt Vonnegut, I'm left feeling like an aspiring auto mechanic without an instruction manual. The author penned 23 total works, including 14 novels, which is of course, more than anyone could possibly ask for from their favorite author. But what about tomorrow? I worry about my kids, and their children's kids, who will supply them with a voice of decency and reason, of peace and justice? To read Vonnegut is to be catapulted into a stratosphere of the impossible, where fact and fiction overlap into a hybrid of black humor and serious social criticism, solidifying his status as a rhetorical prankster. After finishing a Vonnegut book, you feel like you've just been given a giant, warm handshake equipped with a sting from an electric hand buzzer. Vonnegut's best work, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Hocus Pocus, A Man Without A Country, and what many consider to be his finest novel, the anti-war classic, Slaughterhouse-Five, run the reader through a gamut of emotions. No other author has made me see the beauty, sorrow, joy, and pain of the world like Kurt Vonnegut. I don't own Vonnegut novels I collect them, like a child acquires memory and experience. Underneath the roar of Vonnegut's prose is an innocuous plea for decency, for humanity to live up to its highest ideals. Vonnegut loved to quote Mark Twain, Jesus, and former American Socialist Party leader, Eugene V. Debs. But it was an existential quote from his son Mark Vonnegut, that Kurt seemed most found of, "We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is." Above all, Vonnegut railed against the ruthlessness of American political and social culture, what he saw as a society in which bullies are not only rewarded but celebrated. His targets included humans as the ultimate butchers of the environment, menacing corporations, social Darwinism and the Bush administration. Vonnegut wrote in a column for the progressive publication, In These Times: "But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America's becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas." Vonnegut warned of technological and economic progress as a hindrance to the spiritual growth of human communities. In Player Piano, the author wrote of a time where humans are replaced by machines in the name of economic achievement, and as a result society ends in chaos. Kurt Vonnegut often tinkered with the idea of suicide. His mother committed suicide when he was growing up, but he ultimately decided it was important for him to set a good example for his children. That's not to say he wasn't quite found at the possibility of death as he stated in A Man Without A Country, "The last thing I ever wanted was to be alive when the three most powerful people on the whole planet would be named Bush, Dick and Colon." I'm reminded now of Vonnegut's continued popularity with young people. His words have historically and to this day, particularly resonated with those of the younger generation. For Vonnegut's message is consistently aligned with the blanket idealism that only the young seem to posses. In one of his many commencement addresses, Vonnegut remarked to the 1970 graduating class of Bennington College: "So let's divide up the wealth more fairly that we have divided it up so far. Let's make sure that everybody has enough to eat, and a decent place to live and medical help when he needs it. Let's stop spending money on weapons, which don't work anyway, thank God, and spend money on each other." I had a chance to meet my hero, last October. His wife, noted photographer Jill Krementz, was hosting a book signing at Barnes and Noble in New York City . Not wanting to deter from his wife, Vonnegut gave a few opening remarks but sat out the rest of the event. He did however offer to sign books, and I choked back reverence and approached the author. When my time came to meet him, Vonnegut, dressed in a trademark tweed suit with frumpy tattered hair scattered in every direction, looked up at me with the droopy faded eyes of a halfway resting sheep dog. The only words I could muster were, "Hey Kurt, I'm Brendan, it's awesome to meet you." Vonnegut penned his name on the picture of him in his wife's book, along with his signature * in between the Kurt and Vonnegut. I accepted my book back from him, and looked down at his writing. He never said anything to me, he didn't have to. I know that moment will last forever.

"Slaughterhouse Five" was one of the best books I ever read, and the second-fastest I ever read with two days (my record is a 760-pager in two days). The story is so bizarre, so funny, so ludicrous, yet at the same time it's so entertaining that it can't be put down, and it can't be read just once. I haven't read any of Vonnegut's other works, but I may one of these days. Even just with the one book I did read, I can say that he was a very good author.

I read Vonnegut beginning in high school in the late 60s, early 70s. Then one Saturday night, my best friend and I, who turned me onto him, were at an 11:30 pm showing of "Slaughterhouse Five" under the influence of some microdot induced alternative reality. Needless to say, it was an expereince that sticks with me to this day. In 2003, my wife and I were driving from Prague to Copenhagen and went through Dresden just so i could be in that place. It seemed surreal. The man just made sense to me.

To my favorite American Author and favorite author of all time. Farewell my friend. The big brains are still ruling incompetently, but evolution is on the way, albeit a bit slowly!

I saw Kurt at his last appearance at Ohio State last fall. He was as sharp as ever, great man, great writer. TimeQuake-Kilgore Trout died at the age of 84. Vonnegut, was 84. "The semi-colon is dead." --Kurt Vonnegut, OSU, 2006

He mentioned numerology in some of his novels possibly because he was born on Armistice Day, 1922, four years to the day peace was declared to end the war to end all wars in Europe. Yet, it was short lived: he experienced one of the most devastating days in human history, the firebombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945. Those two events shaped his life for all eternity. They gave birth to the greatness of Kurt Vonnegut. He reflected the two by being a peace loving man yet warning us both will always be in conflict. For whatever reason, it is in our nature and he thus gave us the gift, the recipe for coping. Thank God for KV, truly a Faithful Messenger, my Pied Piper. He will be missed! MD

While a freshman in college, I avoided reading Vonnegut because everyone else was doing it. So stupid, but I had an 18 year old brain at the time(not to insult the 18 year olds out there :). One day I finally picked up Breakfast of Champions and could not put it down. I was hooked like all my friends. I have read all his books and used them as a reward for reading something I felt I should have read like the classics. When I have nothing to read, I reread a Vonnegut book. I loved the man. He was always my favorite author and will always be. God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut!

Kurt Vonnegut and my father were both WWII veterans who worked for GE, but they didn't seem to have much else in common: certainly not politics, or religious veiwpoint. And yet, shortly after my father died in 1991, I realized that one of the things that has always appealed to me about Vonnegut's writing is that I hear my father's voice there. I think it's a shared sense of irony that comes from that generation, and an awareness that one can never take oneself, or anyone or anything else, very seriously. But whatever that mysterious link may actually be, I grieve now the loss of both of them. And with great love, respect and gratitude, I realize that so it goes.

He was one of a kind, yet one with everyone who has ever questioned the "cages" of thought that hold humanity captive. The single graphic tribute on his website says so much... http://www.vonnegut.com/ The world has lost a treasure.

I was first introduced to Kurt Vonnegut's work in 1971 while a Junior in High School. The book was Cat's Cradle. I remember how influenced I was by the simplicity of his sentence stucture, the shortness of the chapters and his firm grasp on the stupidity of life. Over the next few years, I read ever book that he had written with my favorite being Sirens of Titan. I offered an absurd yet rational explanation for all of the events in the world. "Greetings"

What a great loss for the already floundering state of American literature. This is a man who had the courage to point out, very poetically, that the people in control have no intention, nor ability, to appreciate anything lovely or meaningful. They must destroy it. He, along with Gore Vidal, was the last of the contemporary authors who dared to criticize the status quo and truly mean it. Sleep well, K.V., you are now in a place where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. Hopefully he is having a hell of a great conversation with Richard Brautigan and Jack Kerouac. Imagine.

In all the adoration, well deserved, about Vonnegut's novels, his short stories have been overlooked. "Welcome to the Monkey House" is a brilliant collection. Today's writers would be well-served to see how much Vonnegut could do with a few pages. And, his observations about society are as valid today as they were decades ago.

All I can say is Thank You, Kurt Vonnegut...thank you. You will be missed

I started reading his books as a junior in college. After graduating I spent my summer reading all of his books up till that time. I later turned my friends on to him and my wife. We love his works, constantly reread them and have tried to keep up with his long life. Kurt... You are a hero

Kurt Vonnegut was required reading in most high schools a few decades ago. The political environment degraded in the US as the religious right became more and more powerful (to the point of choosing GW Bush). So Vonnegut books were pushed aside for more "neutral" reading. I hope his death will inspire a few more young readers to re-discover him, for he was truely one of the most remarkable American of this century.

He was a great author. I shall miss him.

As a high school English teacher, growing older by the moment, the most important words in my life are integrity and dignity, which Kurt Vonnegut possessed to an obscene and badly needed degree. In his Welcome to the Monkey House collection is that beautiful short story, Adam, which brings tears every time I read it -- and that feeling resonates with my freshmen. Gandhi was right, he could have easily captured Kurt here: "To the world, you may be only one person; to one person, you may be the world." Hi-ho.

It has long been a contention of mine that the late 60's, early 70's was the most confusing time for American males to "come of age" in this country's history. Having been in that group whose graduation from college coincided with the first draft lottery(spring of '71), I was facing the most life changing decision I would ever have to face- induction/'Nam or Canada. Sometime just before that dreaded night when they literally treated the drawing like a gameshow,pulling young boys lives out of a barrel, I'd been turned on by a friend to this unique reading experience that in a bittersweet way gave me all the answers I needed about which direction I should head. It was, of course, "Slaughterhouse Five". I became one of Mr.Vonneguts' most devoted champions from that point on, urging others to read his consciousness elevating,intelligently humerous,entertaining renderings. He clarified in such non hysterical terms the complete insanity of war. Fortunately I drew 334 that night and my decision was rendered moot. So it goes. Belated thanks to you,Kurt, you made the obscure hilareously clear for me and helped save me from red neck hell. I'd like to recommend "Easter Sunday" as a sort of Kurt Vonnegut "primer". Larry from PA of the American Human

I picked up SH-5 and read it straight through. I was hooked from the beginning. I've since read and reread many of Mr Vonnegut's books. I had the good fortune to hear him speak in SA, Texas in 1996. I sat and listened and didn't move a muscle until he walked off stage. He will truly be missed.

Mr. Vonnegut was a sincere humanist. I think he really wanted people to start treating each other better, even though he knew how stupid we could be. He certainly made my life more bearable, and I will miss him greatly, even though I only knew him through his writing. I wish all young people (my children included) would read Kurt Vonnegut. Maybe then the next generation of leaders would turn out better than our current batch.

I was never very fond of reading... then as if by fate... i picked up slaughter-house 5 as an assignment in my senior english class... since then i can't read enough... i've bought, read, then given away every vonnegut novel i've seen since then... i feel like i've lost a dear friend... he may be gone from our earthly world but his spirit lives on in the people who love his books... and through us a new generation will find something to love about this world... god bless you, mr. vonnegut... you will be missed...

I can't believe your gone. I just read everyone of your books from beginning to end. I tend to read that way, one author at a time in fast sucession. Your books got me through a tough winter. Thank's.

I won't pretend to understand all that he wrote, but I have read ALL of his work and would have liked to thank him.....

To really understand Kurt Vonnegut, you need only go to his website...www.vonnegut.com Nuff Said!

Reading Vonnegut was very important when I was young. My friend and I consumed his books, back when young folks had favorite authors and traded paperbacks rather than text messages. Vonnegut made me think, made me laugh, made me read some more. Thanks Mister V., and thanks everyone for the comments above.

My brother is such a big fan that he has that tombstone with "Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt." tattoed on his arm. I just read one of his stories for the first time a few weeks ago. I will definately be checking out the rest.

I read the Vonnegut books so long ago (60s,70s) they've settled into the dusty memory corners reserved for information not dealt with on a daily(or even yearly) basis. Richard Brautigan lives in those corners,too..karass and granfalloon, how beautifully descriptive,used to come up with frequency but no more..Trafamadorians stillcome up several time a year, because, of course, we all are more that what we are at the moment...thanks, Kurt, for the (jostled) memories and your additions to the language and public imagination surpassing even Dr. Seuss

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