Kurt Vonnegut—Anthropologist, Lover of Dogs, Smoker Of Pall Malls—Is Dead At 84
My books so far have argued that most human behavior, no matter how ghastly or ludicrous or glorious or whatever, is innocent. And here seems as good a place as any to include a statement made to me by Marsha Mason, the superb actress who once did me the honor of starring in a play of mine. She, too, is from the Middle West, from St. Louis.
"You know what the trouble is with New York?" she asked me.
"No," I said.
"Nobody here," she said, "believes that there is such a thing as innocence."
—Introduction to Palm Sunday, 1981.
Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84 [NYT]