Thursday, April 12, 2007

Kurt Vonnegut dies

known by the media as author of 'Slaughterhouse 5' , was a soldier in WWii who saw Dresden burn, who chain-smokes Pall Mall filter-less cigarettes in the hope that they kill him.

And that's what the media wants us to know about him

What I think I know of him is that he tried to pass on the message - the one about being kind to others - and probably lost faith in the festering swarm of humanity that we are.

His address at Agnes Scott College incites people to think. And be kind. And talks about the strength of extended families. Very sound advice, wethinks.

Come, shed a tear, for you've lost a bit of yourself, and a tear won't lessen you.
Or atleast, read Vonnegut's Blues for America

Sales of 'Slaughterhouse 5' should increase over the coming month , I guess.

Reddit has more stuff on him

On a different page,

Long dead Leslie McFarlane is Franklin W Dixon . Atleast, the frst one we knew.
Frankin W. Dixon is a stock name, the publishing house can have any number of authors write under this pseudonym.
A blue eyed Irishman named Leslie McFarlane was the first.

He hated the Hardy Boys books. Referred to them as 'the juveniles'. He wrote them for money.
The publishing company made him write them in a style much inferior to what he wanted to and was capable of.

We loved the Hardy Boys. There was adventure. All sorts of it. Jungles, mountains, rivers, seas.
Paradiving, flying planes, skiing ... page-turning suspense. chilling suspense. never a dull moment. And all of it outdoors. What more could a kid ask for.

'The Ghost of the Hardy Boys' is supposed to written in the author's preferred, skilled style. Read it as a tribute to the man, you need to see what you missed.

Again,
Reddit .

Without Reddit, we'd be lost, Toto !!

4 Comments:

Blogger dharmabum said...

read about it in the papers today, but i'd never heard of him before.

thanks for the links - very interesting! being kind to others is so important and yet so forgotten!

12:34 PM, April 13, 2007  
Blogger cactusjump said...

my fave part in slaughterhouse was the world war film seen backwards - remember it? awesome.

11:29 PM, April 20, 2007  
Blogger yesbob said...

db : true
cj : nope :(

1:32 PM, April 22, 2007  
Blogger Gupta said...

yesbob. bobsey. sobbey. besoby. yebobs. sobeby.

12:19 PM, April 27, 2007  

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