Fun Facts Friday: Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (11 November, 1922 – 11 April, 2007) was a prolific American author, best known for his 1969 novel Slaughterhouse-Five.

“Kurt-Vonnegut-US-Army-portrait” by United States Army –
http://web.archive.org/web/20120531140300/http://www.jameslogancourier.org/index.php?itemid=7523. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

Books by Kurt Vonnegut

1. Kurt Vonnegut is actually a “junior”, his father, Kurt Vonnegut Sr. was an architect.
2. Vonnegut hated the semi-colon and said that they are”“transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.“
3. The author had to leave Butler University in Indiana after barely getting a C in his English courses.
4. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of the most banned books in US schools. Appropriately, Mr. Vonnegut was very much against censorship.
5. Mr. Vonnegut was a fan of science fiction and there even an asteroid named after him (25399 Vonnegut).
6. He opened one of the first Saab dealerships in the US.
7. He joined the Army during World War II and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
8. Vonnegut was captured by the Germans and sent to Dresden to work in a slaughterhouse which then produced malt syrup for pregnant women.
9. He survived the firebombing of Dresden, when over 90% of the city’s center was destroyed,  as a POW and received a Purple Heart (in his words “I myself was awarded my country’s second-lowest decoration, a Purple Heart for frost-bite“).
10. He made a cameo appearance in one my favorite movies Back to School.

Books by Kurt Vonnegut

Zohar – Man of la Book