House of Parlance Blog

So long, Kurt.

This is a sad day. Kurt Vonnegut, one of the truly great American writers of the past 50+ years, has passed, succumbing to brain injuries suffered in a fall that occurred several weeks ago.

He had a truly original voice. So tender and charming and funny and ultimately human. He was like a good friend that you don’t see often enough but who’s always with you in your thoughts. The simplest things would remind you of him. And you’d say to yourself, “You know, I can’t wait to hear his voice again.” And you’d go home and pick up that old ratty, dog-eared copy of Welcome to the Monkey House or Slaughterhouse 5 or Breakfast of Champions and get lost in it for an hour or so. Combing over those pages that you’ve known so well for so long that you might think - for the briefest of moments - that you could have written them yourself. Only you couldn’t have. No one else could have written those words. Or hit that note so correctly or cradled that idea with such care.
What I remember and love about him most - besides the amazing simplicity with which he could cut directly to the heart of a story or an idea - is that he created books that people shared. People gleefully gave his books away to friends and strangers, fellow travelers around the world. As though by not passing along all of that wisdom and humour - man he could make me laugh & think at the same time - you were somehow diminishing the world around you. But by giving his books away to someone who had never read Vonnegut before you were opening a window in the world. Drawing back the curtains and letting a little more light in.
Kurt Vonnegut died today. It is time to remember him and his work. And to celebrate what he has done.

Go find those old paperbacks and read them again. And when you’re done take them with you as you go about your day and when the time is right give them away.

In memory of Kurt Vonnegut, let a little more light into the world.

Let’s ride out on this quote from his novel “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater”,

“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.’ ”