RIP - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

As many may have now heard, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has died at 84 years of age. Despite the common (for any book) references to Slaughterhouse-Five, his work is grossly underappreciated and underread. He really was one of the greatest satirists, commentators, and absurdists America had in the 20th century, and his work was almost always top-notch, ranging from the more common "Cat's Cradle" and "Slaughterhouse-Five" to the lesser-known but still amazing "Mother Night" and "Galapagos". Not only that, he was one of the first authors who kind of defied traditional genre categorizations, as many of his works operate as science fiction (though he, unlike Philip Dick, would never call himself a science fiction writer). While I started reading Vonnegut in my late-teens, he (unlike the abominable Ayn Rand) didn't stop being brilliant once I grew up a little more. I just can't stress strongly enough how important and tragically ignored for the most part his work is. If you haven't read any Vonnegut, now would be as good a time as any to start. The fact that he was on my death list in no way compensates for the sad loss America and the literary world has suffered.

UPDATE: D and Rob offer more evidence why Vonnegut mattered.