American literary idol Kurt Vonnegut died on Tuesday night in Manhattan at age 84, the New York Timesreported yesterday.
A longtime family friend, who reported Vonnegut's death, said the writer had suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago, the newspaper reported.
Vonnegut was best known for such classic novels as Slaughterhouse-Fiveand Cat's Cradlebut also wrote plays, essays and short fiction. It was his novels - 14 in all - that became classics of the American counterculture, however.
The defining moment of Vonnegut's life was the firebombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied Forces in 1945, an event he witnessed as a young prisoner of war, the newspaper said.
Dresden was the basis for Slaughterhouse-Five,which was published in 1969 against the backdrop of war in Vietnam, racial unrest and cultural and social upheaval.
Vonnegut became a cult hero when the novel topped the bestseller lists, the article said, adding that some schools and libraries have banned the book because of its sexual content, rough language and depictions of violence.
The novel featured a signature Vonnegut phrase, "so it goes," which became a catch phrase for opponents of the Vietnam war.
After the book was published, Vonnegut went into severe depression and vowed never to write another novel. In 1984, he tried to take his life with sleeping pills and alcohol, the report said.
Vonnegut is survived by his wife, photographer Jill Krementz, their daughter and his six other children, the New York Timessaid.