Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. So it goes.
I would like to write something that could convey just how much his works have meant to me, but I feel completely inadequate to the task. Especially since anything I would attempt to write would inevitably be long-winded and imprecise, which runs so directly contrary to what made him such a fantastic writer: the ability to say complex things in just a few words.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say he was one of America’s finest authors, and I would be very willing to entertain the argument that no one (not Steinbeck, not Faulkner, not Twain) better captured what it meant to be American. Certainly no one else routinely wrote books as much pure fun to read.
Everyone knows the most famous books–Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat’s Cradle, Galapagos–but for my money his best two works are probably God Bless You Mr. Rosewater and Mother Night. The former gives Kilgore Trout (one of the most unique and fascinating characters/literary techniques ever created) his finest role, and most perfectly conveys Vonnegut’s overarching message (more on that below). The latter is, by far, his most compelling character study. With the story of Howard W. Campbell Jr. Vonnegut contributes , in his own way, nearly as much to the study of evil as philosophical heavyweights like Hannah Arendt…all summed up in a single line: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
Because this is a music blog, I will also reference one of my all-time favorite quotes, from Timequake:
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, ‘The Beatles did.'”
I think he right on both counts, and I’ll add that he himself more than fulfilled that mission.
I would say “rest in peace” but I have a feeling that Vonnegut, avowed humanist that he was, wouldn’t have a lot of patience for such sentiment. So instead I’ll simply say that all of us still alive would do well to remember the joy we received from him and take to heart his most basic message, appropriately targeted at those entering the world, from the previously mentioned God Bless You Mr. Rosewater:
“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.”
Man Out of Time – Elvis Costello
Insomniac – Billy Pilgrim
Last Words – Ice Nine Kills
You Killed Private Pyle – Foma
Sirens of Titan – Al Stewart