Turut berdukacita Innalilahiroji'un... Membaca novel-novelmu, Kurt, serasa kau bawa aku ke dunia tanpa bentuk!
Sultan, http://adalahcerita.blogspot.com/ --- BDG KUSUMO <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "... a literary idol to students in the 1960s and > '70s", era yang penuh dengan Perang Dingin, Agresi > AS di Vietnam, gerakan Martin Luther King Jr, > student revolts di Eropa Barat, masuknya tentara > Pakt Warsaw ke Cekoslowakia, dan mulai "pembangunan" > Orba di Indonesia. Salam, bdg > Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination > of His Age, Is Dead at 84 > by Dinitia Smith > NEW YORK - 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.Mr. Vonnegut > suffered irreversible brain injuries as a result of > a fall several weeks ago, according to his wife, > Jill Krementz. > > Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. > But it was his novels that became classics of the > American counterculture, making him a literary idol, > particularly to students in the 1960s and '70s. > Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be > found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm > rooms on campuses throughout the United States. > > Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle > the basic questions of human existence: Why are we > in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make > sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite > making people suffer, wishes them well? > > He also shared with Twain a profound pessimism. > "Mark Twain," Mr. Vonnegut wrote in his 1991 book, > "Fates Worse Than Death: An Autobiographical > Collage," "finally stopped laughing at his own agony > and that of those around him. He denounced life on > this planet as a crock. He died." > > Not all Mr. Vonnegut's themes were metaphysical. > With a blend of vernacular writing, science fiction, > jokes and philosophy, he also wrote about the > banalities of consumer culture, for example, or the > destruction of the environment. > > His novels - 14 in all - were alternate universes, > filled with topsy-turvy images and populated by > races of his own creation, like the Tralfamadorians > and the Mercurian Harmoniums. He invented phenomena > like chrono-synclastic infundibula (places in the > universe where all truths fit neatly together) as > well as religions, like the Church of God the > Utterly Indifferent and Bokononism (based on the > books of a black British Episcopalian from Tobago > "filled with bittersweet lies," a narrator says). > > The defining moment of Mr. Vonnegut's life was the > firebombing of Dresden, Germany, by Allied forces in > 1945, an event he witnessed firsthand as a young > prisoner of war. Thousands of civilians were killed > in the raids, many of them burned to death or > asphyxiated. "The firebombing of Dresden," Mr. > Vonnegut wrote, "was a work of art." It was, he > added, "a tower of smoke and flame to commemorate > the rage and heartbreak of so many who had had their > lives warped or ruined by the indescribable greed > and vanity and cruelty of Germany." > > His experience in Dresden was the basis of > "Slaughterhouse-Five," which was published in 1969 > against the backdrop of war in Vietnam, racial > unrest and cultural and social upheaval. The novel, > wrote the critic Jerome Klinkowitz, "so perfectly > caught America's transformative mood that its story > and structure became best-selling metaphors for the > new age." > > 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.' " > > Mr. Vonnegut eschewed traditional structure and > punctuation. His books were a mixture of fiction and > autobiography, prone to one-sentence paragraphs, > exclamation points and italics. Graham Greene called > him "one of the most able of living American > writers." Some critics said he had invented a new > literary type, infusing the science-fiction form > with humor and moral relevance and elevating it to > serious literature. > > He was also accused of repeating himself, of > recycling themes and characters. Some readers found > his work incoherent. His harshest critics called him > no more than a comic book philosopher, a purveyor of > empty aphorisms. > > With his curly hair askew, deep pouches under his > eyes and rumpled clothes, he often looked like an > out-of-work philosophy professor, typically chain > smoking, his conversation punctuated with coughs and > wheezes. But he also maintained a certain celebrity, > as a regular on panels and at literary parties in > Manhattan and on the East End of Long Island, where > he lived near his friend and fellow war veteran > Joseph Heller, another darkly comic literary hero of > the age. > > Mr. Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922, the > youngest of three children. His father, Kurt Sr., > was an architect. His mother, Edith, came from a > wealthy brewery family. Mr. Vonnegut's brother, > Bernard, who died in 1997, was a physicist and an > expert on thunderstorms. > > During the Depression, the elder Vonnegut went for > long stretches without work, and Mrs. Vonnegut > suffered from episodes of mental illness. "When my > mother went off her rocker late at night, the hatred > and contempt she sprayed on my father, as gentle and > innocent a man as ever lived, was without limit and > pure, untainted by ideas or information," Mr. > Vonnegut wrote. She committed suicide, an act that > haunted her son for the rest of his life. > > He had, he said, a lifelong difficulty with women. > He remembered an aunt once telling him, "All > Vonnegut men are scared to death of women." > > "My theory is that all women have hydrofluoric acid > bottled up inside," he wrote. > > Mr. Vonnegut went east to attend Cornell University, > but he enlisted in the Army before he could get a > degree. The Army initially sent him to the Carnegie > Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon > University) in Pittsburgh and the University of > Tennessee to study mechanical engineering. > > In 1944 he was shipped to Europe with the 106th > Infantry Division and shortly saw combat in the > Battle of the Bulge. With his unit nearly destroyed, > he wandered behind enemy lines for several days > until he was captured and sent to a prisoner of war > camp near Dresden, the architectural jewel of > Germany. > > Assigned by his captors to make vitamin supplements, > he was working with other prisoners in an > underground meat locker when British and American > warplanes started carpet bombing the city, creating > a firestorm above him. The work detail saved his > life. > > Afterward, he and his fellow prisoners were assigned > to remove the dead. > > "The corpses, most of them in ordinary cellars, were > so numerous and represented such a health hazard > that they were cremated on huge funeral pyres, or by > flamethrowers whose nozzles were thrust into the > cellars, without being counted or identified," he > wrote in "Fates Worse Than Death." When the war > ended, Mr. Vonnegut returned to the United States > and married his high school sweetheart, Jane Marie > Cox. They settled in Chicago in 1945. The couple had > three children, Mark, Edith and Nanette. In 1958, > Mr. Vonnegut's sister, Alice, and her husband died > within a day of each other, she of cancer and he in > a train crash. The Vonneguts took custody of their > children, Tiger, Jim and Steven. > > In Chicago, Mr. Vonnegut worked as a police reporter > for the City News Bureau. He also studied for a > master's degree in anthropology at the University of > Chicago, writing a thesis on "The Fluctuations > Between Good and Evil in Simple Tales." It was > rejected unanimously by the faculty. (The university > finally awarded him a degree almost a quarter of a > century later, allowing him to use his novel "Cat's > Cradle" as his thesis.) > > In 1947, he moved to Schenectady, N.Y., and took a > job in public relations for the General Electric > Company. Three years later he sold his first short > story, "Report on the Barnhouse Effect," to > Collier's magazine and decided to move his family to > Cape Cod, Mass., where he wrote fiction for > magazines like Argosy and The Saturday Evening Post. > To bolster his income, he taught emotionally > disturbed === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
