NP but Vonnegut

Mark Kohut markekohut at yahoo.com
Sun Jan 29 17:56:50 CST 2012


One of the best parts of Shields's biography turns out to be its introduction, in which he tells us how he got the job of being Vonnegut's biographer. He wrote to the author back in the summer of 2006.
A droll exchange between the two men occurred, with Vonnegut finally relenting and sending Shields a postcard with the word "OK," with a selfportrait drawn on the back. The two met once, at Vonnegut's house, and hit it off.
Then, hours after Shields left, energized by the feeling that things were off to a great start, Vonnegut fell down the stairs and had to be hospitalized. The writer fell into a coma, and, a month later, he died.
"Writing this book has been like conversing with an empty chair," Shields writes in the opening pages.


Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Vonnegut+voice+silenced+empty+chair+biography/6069069/story.html#ixzz1Pjta8nZW



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