kurt vonnegut wrote of him: "when i read anything by my longtime friend john leonard, his voice is that of a total stranger. he is too polite in ordinary conversations, with me at least, to set off the fireworks of all he knows and feels after reading and comparing and responding to, in the course of his long career as a literary critic, a thousand times more books than i have even heard of. only in print does he light the night sky of my ignorance and intellectual lassitude with sizzles and bangs, and gorgeous blooms of fire. he is a teacher! when i start to read john leonard, it is as though i, while simply looking for the men's room, blundered into a lecture by the smartest man who ever lived."