Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle" and "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

Kurt was one of my biggest heroes, for his literary triumphs, his personal ideals and the work he did to further them, and the fact that he was a lifelong depressive who made it. I had the good fortune to meet him once and it remains one of the highlights of my life.

The world is a less rich place today.

I once adapted a short story of his for the stage. I think it was one that wasn't his usual style - "Long Walk to Forever." It's a beautiful story. Sorry he has passed away.

No, that one wasn't his usual style, but you're right, it was a beautiful story, and autobiographical too.

Seems like these days the saints are everyday kind people. An act of kindness is divine. I really liked this quote:

To Mr. Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness. The title character in his 1965 novel, “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,” summed up his philosophy:

“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.’ ”