So he goes

[wombat_socho]

Frankly, I don't understand the sorrow over Kurt Vonnegut among the science fiction fans on my f-list. To call the man a second-rate writer is to be overly generous, imao, especially when you compare him to the major figures in the genre. He missed no opportunity to shit on science fiction and its fandom even as he stole concepts, filed off the serial numbers, and knocked out crappy imitations to the everlasting adulation of the mainstream press, which couldn't be bothered to read "that trashy sci-fi stuff".

It's possible people aren't old enough to remember this. For my part, I remember reading Vonnegut as a teenager (after already having read Asimov, Clarke, Ellison, Heinlein, Niven and Silverberg, to take just a few off the top) and thinking he was nothing special, maybe on a par with Ira Levin. Maybe. At least Chip in Levin's This Perfect Day was someone you could sympathize with, unlike the sad sacks, assholes and losers in Vonnegut's novels.

Comments

[nornagest.livejournal.com]

I really dislike some of the Vonnegut books that mainstream critics most adore (especially Slaughterhouse-Five, which alternately bored and irritated me until the last five pages), but I'll give the man credit for writing Cat's Cradle; it was probably the most depressing book I've ever read, and I mean that as a high compliment.

I think he was good at what he did, but he was definitely a little too addicted to using pulp sci-fi tropes in a self-conscious attempt at irony. His short stories are considerably better than his full-length prose.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

He deserves major props for "Harrison Bergeron Smith", but the rest of his work isn't remotely worthy of all the praise showered on it over the years. Then again, considering who's doing the praising...