Did Kurt Vonnegut Write The Psychoanalysis and Cure of Satan?

[christianjb]

Alas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/b...igg&adxnnlx=1176350608-aWJJuoJ0nUg7K7L0+Vbxyg

 

[Math Is Hard]

So it goes.

:(

 

[christianjb]

According to Wikipedia, he died the same age as Kilgore Trout.

 

[Astronuc]

Another great icon gone.

I heard an interview with him about two weeks ago in which he described the experience in Dresden in which he and others were forced to collect the corpses. It is briefly mentioned in the NYTimes article. He apparently tried repeatedly to write about the experience, which ended up becoming Slaughterhouse 5.

The defining moment of Mr. Vonnegut’s life was the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, by Allied forces in 1945, an event he witnessed firsthand as a young prisoner of war. Thousands of civilians were killed in the raids, many of them burned to death or asphyxiated. “The firebombing of Dresden,” Mr. Vonnegut wrote, “was a work of art.” It was, he added, “a tower of smoke and flame to commemorate the rage and heartbreak of so many who had had their lives warped or ruined by the indescribable greed and vanity and cruelty of Germany.”

His experience in Dresden was the basis of “Slaughterhouse-Five,” which was published in 1969 against the backdrop of war in Vietnam, racial unrest and cultural and social upheaval. The novel, wrote the critic Jerome Klinkowitz, “so perfectly caught America’s transformative mood that its story and structure became best-selling metaphors for the new age.”

To Mr. Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness. The title character in his 1965 novel, “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,” summed up his philosophy:

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”

 

[turbo]

He will be missed. His writing was simple and often child-like but dead-on.

 

[Evo]

I loved Slaughterhouse 5.

 

[Astronuc]

Novelist Vonnegut Remembered for His Black Humor
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9533587

Morning Edition, April 12, 2007 · Kurt Vonnegut Jr., the acclaimed author of more than a dozen novels, short stories, essays and plays, died in Manhattan Wednesday. He was 84.

Vonnegut's most famous work was an iconic novel born out of his memories of war and its absurdities. Vonnegut's mother killed herself when he was a young man leaving to serve in World War II. As a private in that war, he was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a former slaughterhouse in the ancient German city of Dresden. From there he stepped out into the hellish, surreal landscape that Dresden became after it was firebombed. It took him 25 years to turn that experience into Slaughterhouse-Five.

Several interviews and stories.

Kurt Vonnegut
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1426772

Morning Edition, September 10, 2003 · Today we conclude the three-part series, "Art Out of Cataclysm." NPR's Renee Montagne talks to writer Kurt Vonnegut about the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, by British bombers towards the end of World War II. Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse Five, is based on his own experience as an eyewitness to the aftermath.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I loved Slaughterhouse 5.

I often forget about that one, but it is definitely on my top ten list.

 

[arildno]

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the many authors in respect to whom I've felt the occasional flash of guilt for never having read a single book by.

Which one of his is most accessible and engaging?

 

[Evo]

I often forget about that one, but it is definitely on my top ten list.

I like the movie with Valerie Perrine.

 

[turbo]

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the many authors in respect to whom I've felt the occasional flash of guilt for never having read a single book by.

Which one of his is most accessible and engaging?

I particularly liked "Cat's Cradle", though I have read most of his output and enjoyed most everything.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

"Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were roaring drunk on petroleum. Love, 2006 A.D. -Kurt Vonnegut"

 

[DaveC426913]

Kurt Vonnegut is one of the many authors in respect to whom I've felt the occasional flash of guilt for never having read a single book by.

Which one of his is most accessible and engaging?

Breakfast of Champions? It has pictures!

 

[DaveC426913]

Hey, has anyone heard of a book called 'The Psychoanalysis and resultant Cure of Satan by Leo <somebody> J.S.P.S.* (Just Some Poor Schmuck)' - or something like that.

I think it's KV but I'm not sure.