Take it easy, Kurt

Vonnegut passed away after 84 years on this planet. His official website shows only the well known birdcage image, door open, and the caption "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.1922 — 2007".

The man produced some very interesting works. I'm not sad. Everyone goes eventually, and this was no early exit. If anything, it brings to mind literary works that had meaning for me and an excuse to refamiliarize myself with those wonderful novels. Vonnegut managed to hint at deeper, darker things without losing a sense of humor and irreverence that a person like me can appreciate. Fortunatly, the world of Kilgore Trout, Rabo Karabekian and the like continues on in the wealth of writing Vonnegut left behind.

There are always critics of anyone that receives attention for their work, but I always found the charges to miss the intent of what Vonnegut was doing. To each his own. Some critics see simplicity, repitition and a lack of stylistic development. I see a distinctive and effective style coupled with a brutal humor that shined a light on frank and disturbing truths about the world we live in and where it is headed. The troubled images of humanity are as valid today as they ever were during the era they were spawned in. Vonnegut's method of delivery confounds some people looking for something more traditional. So it is with authors dealing in the less respected genres and those that are hard to characterize at all.

I found his writing a joy and well worth reading. Included in that body of work are some fantastic speeches, interviews and essays. The man could make me laugh.

I also find his 8 Rules for Writing Fiction to be invaluable tips:

http://www.americanstate.org/vonnegut.html

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not
feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she
can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a
glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal
character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as
possible.
6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading
characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see
what they are made of.
7. 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.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as
possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding
of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves,
should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
-- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut,
Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons
1999), 9-10.