Slaughterhouse Five and Galapagos made me want to write, but I'll never do it like you.
2007-04-12 04:16:51 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
How sad. :-( He will never be forgotten, though.
2007-04-13 06:36:51 · answer #1 · answered by yumyum 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Slaughterhouse Five stands alongside Catch-22 and The Iliad as the greatest war stories ever told. They have a running theme. Certainly, The Iliad celebrates the destruction of the human body in war with its graphic descriptions of the insertion of a spear and subsequent exit, leaving the wounded, dead, and living men in glory. But the epic truly captures the psychology of one fighter, Achilles. He suffers from clinical narcissism, unable to handle the death of his friend and ego-booster, Patroclus.
Catch-22 broadens that view, showing that all of war is a battle of the will and of the mind -- you are crazy if you want to go to war, and therefore liable for discharge, but you are sane, and not liable for discharge, if you want to be discharged to escape that craziness.
Slaughterhouse Five further extends how ludicrous war is, especially to those who make it out physically alive. The mind is forever fragmented, disjointed, and unable to tell the story of war without appearing utterly insane.
You might be interested in Tim O'Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story" from his book The Things They Carried. It's definitely worth a trip to the library.
2007-04-12 12:32:24 · answer #2 · answered by God_Lives_Underwater 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I came to see if anyone else was as sad as I am. Kurt Vonnegut was (and is) one of my most favorite authors.
Farewell Kilgore Trout and god bless you Mr. Rosewater and bon voyage Billy Pilgrim! Thank you for a great run.
2007-04-12 12:22:22 · answer #3 · answered by awakelate 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sirens of Titan is one of my top 5 books all time.
Other favorites:
Slaughterhouse Five
Hocus-Pocus
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater
Breakfast of Champions
RIP
2007-04-12 12:39:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I hear you man. Great author.
2007-04-12 13:22:26 · answer #5 · answered by RJ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was a great one.
2007-04-12 11:20:14 · answer #6 · answered by mac 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I was very sad when I heard.
2007-04-12 12:09:49 · answer #7 · answered by ayanami_eyes 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dittos...
Sad day.
2007-04-12 11:58:10 · answer #8 · answered by 34th B.G. - USAAF 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋