God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

Love him or hate him, Kurt Vonnegut gives good rant.

I've found him pretty much unreadable since Slaughterhouse Five, but I'll always love him for Cat's Cradle and Mother Night.

Money quote: "If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts."

COMMENTS
Jeff Wong's picture

Two brief Kurt Vonnegut anecdotes: 1) Several years ago, I ran into Mr. Vonnegut outside the Union Square Cafe while he was waiting for his wife, Jill Krementz to come out from the restaurant. I got to chat with him for a few minutes. It was fun to hear him laugh and wheeze. I'm kidding. Sort of. 2) I met his wife at a Martin Amis reading and asked her about her friendship with Kenneth Millar/Ross Macdonald, an author, whose work has nourished me over the years. She subsequently invited me to her home. In the Summer of 1997, I helped her edit and crop some photos for a postcard book she was working on, and she was kind enough to let me see contact sheets of film she'd shot of KM/RM and read letters he sent. It was a great visit, but KV wasn't home. I'm not kidding. Hi ho.

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