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Vonnegut's account of that ordeal eventually became the cult classic "Slaughterhouse Five," which captured the cruel absurdity of war. Published in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, it solidified his reputation as an iconoclast. The library, which opens in November, will feature items that belong to his three children, including a photo of their father just after his release as a POW, a Nazi sword he brought home as a souvenir, his cigarette-stained Smith Corona typewriter and a portrait of him by artist Joseph Hirsch. Sidney Offit, a fellow author and longtime friend of Vonnegut's, expects the library to give visitors a sense of his complexity, creativity, his triumph over tragedies and his worries about humanity's future. "I hope they get a full vision of a man who was one of those rarities, who was like his work. He was a writer who, when you read him, you heard him," he said. Offit is giving the library copies of letters Vonnegut sent him and the bound galleys of two of Vonnegut's books. Vonnegut lectured regularly and exhorted audiences to think for themselves, warning that modern society was dehumanizing them. The library hopes to carry on those ideals, partly through its writing programs for high school and college students emphasizing Vonnegut's works. Donald C. Farber, who was Vonnegut's attorney and agent and is now executor of his literary estate, is rounding up signed first editions of his friend's works for the library. Farber said Vonnegut was complicated, mysterious and prone to periods of depression, but never ran short of humor. "I never had a conversation with him where I didn't end up laughing," he said. ___ Online: Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library:
http://www.vonnegutlibrary.org/
[Associated
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