First bit of news I heard this morning was the passing of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. at age 84.
He was a brilliant satirist, a great writer and a wonderful human being. He was able to find great humor in dark subjects, in the stunning capacity for human beings to inflict cruelty upon one another and in the absolute craziness of human existence.
He was a giant in American literature, his novels, classics. "Slaughterhouse Five," "Cats Cradle," "Breakfast of Champions," great works all. He was often compared with Mark Twain, which was apt because he shared Twain's ability to mine humor from human folly.
He wrote his own epitath, I believe, in "Breakfast of Champions." It was, simply, "He tried."
He certainly did.
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