Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)

Kurt Vonnegut, an American cultural hero celebrated for his wry, loonily imaginative commentary on war, apocalypse, technology, materialism and other afflictions in "Slaughterhouse-Five" and other novels, has died. He was 84. (LA Times obit)

In 1981, the Eugene Debs Foundation awarded Kurt Vonnegut the Debs Award which honors an individual who has made significant contributions to society in the "Debsian" tradition. Vonnegut’s appearance in Terre Haute was memorable. In receiving his award, Vonnegut’s humor along with his steadfast support of freedom of expression by writers around the world was much in evidence. Vonnegut's probing, unsettling voice will be missed--and remembered.

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" … when a society is in great danger, [writers are] likely to sound the alarms. I have the canary-bird-in-the-coal-mine theory of the arts. You know, coal miners used to take birds down into the mines with them to detect gas before men got sick. The artists certainly did that in the case of Vietnam. They chirped and keeled over. But it made no difference whatsoever. Nobody important cared. But I continue to think that artists — all artists — should be treasured as alarm systems." – Kurt Vonnegut