|
"I've seen
things you people
wouldn't believe."
The words from Blade
Runner would make
a fitting epitaph
for the life and
career of Kurt Vonnegut
Jr, who saw things
in his life and
in his one of a
kind imagination
that most could
never grasp the
reality of, or would
prefer not to think
upon.
Vonnegut experienced
the loss of his
mother, who died
by her own hand
on Mother's Day
while he was a soldier
in World War II.
He was captured
at the Battle of
the Bulge and taken
to Germany and witnessed
the fire-bombing
of Dresden, where
30 thousand civilians
were killed. He
survived the event
in the shelter of
a meat locker and
drew upon those
memories in the
writing of Slaughterhouse
Five. The Russian
Army liberated his
prisoner of war
camp in 1945.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr
was raised in Indiana
and pursued writing
in his early years
as a contributor
to high school and
college newspapers.
Cat's Cradle, his
first novel, was
published in 1963
at a time when he
was about to abandon
writing.
The author died
at the age of 84
from brain injuries
suffered in a fall
several weeks earlier.
| 
