Author Kurt Vonnegut died on 11 April 2007 of brain injuries suffered in a fall a few weeks ago. Born in Indianapolis on 11 November 1922, he attended Cornell University, but left before graudation to join the Army during World War II. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and then was taken prisoner (from which vantage point he witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, upon which he would base Slaughterhouse Five). Following the war, he worked as a reporter for the Chicago City News Bureau, and studied for a master’s degree in anthropology at the University of Chicago. His master’s thesis, “The Fluctuations Between Good and Evil in Simple Tales,” was unanimously rejected by the faculty, though the university did award his degree many years later, allowing him to use his novel Cat’s Cradle as his thesis.
He wrote fourteen novels in his career. Those considered science fiction include Player Piano (1952), The Sirens of Titan (1959), Cat’s Cradle (1963), God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965), Slaughterhouse Five (1969), Galápagos (1985) and Timequake (1997).
Vonnegut wrote seven other novels, three short story collections, five collections of essays, as well as plays, and stage, screen, and television adaptations. He appeared in the 1999 film Breakfast of Champions, the 1996 film Mother Night, and had a cameo as himself in Rodney Dangerfield’s 1986 film Back to School.
Vonnegut is survived by his second wife, photographer Jill Krementz, as well as his four children and three adopted children (the children of his sister, Alice, who he and his first wife adopted following Alice and her husband’s deaths on successive days).