It was a year ago today that Kurt Vonnegut died. Like so many others, we at 3QD were extremely saddened and for a couple of days we almost became a KV-only site. (Check it out here.)
Deirdre Wengen in PhillyBurbs.com:
“If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”
A year after his death, it almost feels as if Kurt Vonnegut has traveled through a chrono-synclastic infundibulum and reemerged—mop-headed and mustached—to warn the world one last time about the grim consequences of human folly. Recently released, “Armageddon in Retrospect
” contains twelve previously unpublished writings by the popular prognosticator—all dealing, in one way or another, with the infinitely debatable topics of war and peace.
The publication is, however, about far more than subject matter. It acts as a fond farewell, a last goodbye, to an author whose work spans multiple generations. In the introduction, Mark Vonnegut offers a candid account of his father’s life and work, from Vonnegut’s favorite jokes and strange habits to how he regarded his readers and reacted to the Iraq War. The first ten pages even provide amusing allusions to the writer’s ever-increasing pile of concerns, among them his “skinny legs” and inability to play tennis. The tribute is humorous, heartfelt and a delight to read—a chunk of bittersweet marble in Vonnegut’s monolithic memorial. But, as Mark himself explains, his father’s writing needs no introduction.
More here.