R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. | 1922 – 2007

It’s a sad day in the literary world as one of my all-time favorite writers, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. died yesterday at the age of 84.  Vonnegut was the satircal author and godfather of black comedy for personal favorties like Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five, Galapogos, and Breakfast of Champions.  

Vonnegut will be remembered as one of the great American writers of our time.  Like Mark Twain, one of Vonnegut’s influences, he used humor to ask the basic questions of human existence…why are we here?  As the Tralfamadorians would say, “So it goes.” 

Listen to this excerpt from Slaughterhouse Five, where protagonist Billy Pilgrim encounters a flying saucer and its inhabitants.   Read by Vonnegut himself… 

Billy Encounters Flying Saucer – Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut)