(Google Images)
He was a cross between Voltaire and Orwell.
Christopher Hitchens, one of the great thinkers of our time, died in Houston last night after suffering complications from esophageal cancer. The bestselling author, performer, and tireless bon vivant was only sixty-two.
In an interview on the BBC, Labour MP Denis McShane, a close friend, described Hitchens as a cross between Voltaire and George Orwell. Another friend, author Ian McEwan, reported that he was writing to the very end of his days insisting upon a desk by a window in order to produce 3000 words to meet a deadline. Hitch wrote poignantly and unflichingly about his terminal illness that was diagnosed last year just as he was going on tour to promote his autobiography, Hitch-22. As recently as eight days ago he wrote "Trial of the Will" for Vanity Fair in which he took on Neitzsche and his famous maxim, “Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/01/hitchens-201201
Hitchens continued to write in an effort battle against his cancer: "I was very afraid that it would stop me writing. I was really petrified with fear about that because I thought that would, among other things, diminish my will to live." Writing was his life but Hitch was also regretful that he would not be there for his family.
He burned his candle at both ends.
Born in England, Hitchens showed early promise. The child of middle class parents, his mother once declared, "If there is going to be an upper class in this country, then Christopher is going to be in it." He delivered.
In his autobiography, Hitchens confessed that he related to the two faced character Janus because he lived what he admitted was a double life. At Oxford by day he was a Trotskyite and an "ally of the working class" however, in the evenings he was a popular guest at cocktail parties where he mingled with "near-legendary members of the establishment's firmament on nearly equal terms."
Because Hitchens was famously an advocate for atheism, there are some who thought he was a bitter person because he did not approve of popular religious figures such as God, Ghandi, and Mother Teresa. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was a man who loved life and people, who lived it to the fullest, enjoying the company of many famous friends such as Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Phillip Larkin, Stephen Fry, Tina Brown, and numerous others.
An unapologetic lifelong smoker and drinker, Hitch's beloved vices got him in the end and he said that his terminal illness was "something so predictable and banal that it bores even me." Many wondered how he could party so hard and still produce such magnificent and prolific articles. McEwan marveled how Hitch could drink a bottle of whisky and rise early in the morning to write: "He loved words . . . He could throw words up into the sky and they fell in a marvelous fashion."
(Best friend, author Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens with their first born sons in 1985 courtesy of Google Images.)
He was a courageous journalist unafraid to change his mind.
The internationally celebrated journalist began his political philosophy on the left but moved progressively to the right becoming an American citizen in 2007 and then supporting the war in Iraq thereby infuriating some of his former liberal colleagues. He was courageous in his thoughts and deeds.
Hitchens was a daring journalist who volunteered to be waterboarded in order to understand its effects upon suspected terrorists for an article he wrote in Vanity Fair entitled, "Believe me, It's torture."
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808
He subjected himself to uncomfortable luxury spa treatments enduring full body wraps, keratin hair treatments, a Brazilian bikini wax, and dental work as research also proclaiming them torturous in his three part series for Vanity Fair, "On the Limits of Self Improvement."
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/10/hitchens200710
He charmed Christians as well as atheists.
Hitchens wrote an international bestseller entitled God is Not Great in which he denounced religion as an affront to humanity and he was a popular figure on the debate circuit with such religious figures as Dinesh D'Souza and Rabbi Schmuly Boteach who had enormous respect for him. Hitch, like the devil, knew his bible forward and backward.
Not surprisingly, when Hitchens was diagnosed with a terminal illness in its last stages, some Christians were quick to say that the Almighty was condemning him for his non-belief. Ever the gentleman, Hitch said that he did not mind people praying for his healing as long as they did not pray for his salvation.
He complained about well wishers making him feel guilty. "An enormous number of secular and atheist friends have told me encouraging and flattering things like: 'If anyone can beat this, you can'; 'Cancer has no chance against someone like you'; 'We know you can vanquish this.' On bad days, and even on better ones, such exhortations can have a vaguely depressing effect," he wrote in an article for Vanity Fair.
"If I check out, I'll be letting all these comrades down," he said. "A different secular problem also occurs to me: What if I pulled through and the pious faction contentedly claimed that their prayers had been answered? That would somehow be irritating."
If it's a no fault universe, Hitch will be in heaven.
Christopher Hitchens always kept his mind open and was willing to change if he was shown his errors and that included beliefs about religion: "No evidence or argument has yet been presented which would change my mind. But I like surprises."
Hitch's death didn't surprise me because even he knew it was imminent. What surprised me is that I dreamed about him last night probably as he was dying. The thing is I NEVER dream. My nights are an endless unfurling of black velvet. If there is a spirit world, and I have my doubts, it is like Hitch said goodbye to me. I will miss his wisdom, grace, and pure fun but will do as he prescribed and leave hold of the doctrinaire and allow my chainless mind to do my own thinking.
Sources
Hitch-22
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9663000/9663187.stm
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808
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John Andrew
L in the Southeast
iamsurly
icyhighs
podunkmarte
Salon.com
Comments
The man had amazing writing work ethic. He is my hero.
I never cared much for Voltaire but I did love Hitchens.
How the hell could u not? Re. his sinful habits, he said
“Writing is what’s important to me,
and anything that helps me do that —
or enhances and prolongs and deepens
and sometimes intensifies argument and conversation — is worth it to me.”
If I was an atheist, he would be my demigod.
If I was an agnostic, he would be my demiurge .
If I was a religious man, he would be a great drunken debater.
But as he said,
"Religion ends and philosophy begins, just as alchemy ends and chemistry begins and astrology ends, and astronomy begins"
Sophia welcomes him home.
R
Tho I was shocked & appalled at his essay on how women have no sense of humor. (Or maybe it was a funny piece??)
HUGGGGGGGGGG
Interesting how he straddled the fence, writing for The Nation, espousing atheism like most educated liberals, yet supporting war against Iran. A real Whitmanesque "I contain multitudes" type.
Helvetica--Hitchens was a master of reason and a tireless humanist. You can see him in all his glory on Youtube debating with great erudition about the failings of religion or flipping people off who disagreed with him. He had the full range from high to low.
BarbaraJoanne--He is being vilified for his stance on Iraq but his reasons were very compelling. I loved to read his stuff, too. Never dull.
James--It is a dreary day here befitting my sad mood.
Matt--You are an amazing journalist. Thanks for adding to the discussion here. It is weird but perhaps one of the reasons I might have dreamed about Hitch is that my husband was watching "The Trial of Kissinger" on Netflix. Bob bought me Hitch's latest book Arguably for Christmas and was wanting to get more familiar with him.
snowball999--How did he ever find the time with his busy social life? Let me know if you find his replacement. With Kurt Vonnegut gone too, there is no one left that I trust to tell it like it is.
JamesE--Thanks for finding Hitch's words about his bad habits. As you know, he had no regrets for their consequences save those relating to his family who will have to live without him.
Designanator--Remember when we said not to trust anyone over thirty? Now we think sixty two is young and it is. I hope Hitch is on Youtube and other places on the web forever. We need his reason and compassion to live on.
Thank you, Toritto, for reading and commenting. It is a sad day for those of us who admired his wit and wisdom.
Myriad--Re: Women not having senses of humor--I like to think he was joking but I don't think so. There are numerous things I disagreed with him about. Thank heavens thinking like me is not one of my requirements for appreciating an author or I would not have many favorites. Thanks for adding to the discussion.
Thanks, Sis!
Fernsy--Maybe he meant that a woman's sense of humor was not as important as a man's. We women don't need that evolutionarily because we are already attractive to men without it. I remember a quip by someone saying something like women should not marry men for their senses of humor, they never leave you laughing. Thanks for your comment ;D.
Linda--Such sad news for a dreary day. I watched some Hitchslaps on Facebook and they cheered me up considerably. Thanks, dear.
Thank you, Susie :D.
MaryS--Thank you, dear.
Sarah--Fiercely honest--that was Hitch who loved to battle. Thank you for reading and for your comment.
ConChapman--Like you, I admired Hitch for his literary criticism in particular articles about F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, and Nabakov. He wistfully stated that he wished that his criticism had received more attention. Thank you for mentioning that.
Alysa--As long as you are not praying for Hitch's salvation, he would be cool with your prayer for him to rest in peace. Thanks, dear, for commenting.
"A pub debater par excellence. A man with opinions but few ideas. An entertaining stylist, in speech and writing.
Mostly knew him for his atheist show. Not exactly a heavyweight, but a darn sight more enjoyable than Dawkins and Grayling"
Unlike most of the comments on your post, but one to which I subscribe; I have been a reader of Vanity Fair for as long as I can remember, and I did always have an ambivalent feeling about Hitchens as many times I would be left admiring his "pub" oratory, but would then be left bereft of any of whatever he was pushing (such as his ludicrous arguments in favour of the Iraq invasion).
Someone commented on him being a Renaissance man! Please, writing articles, boozing, debating and womanizing (very well of course), but.........
Certainly quite a significant figure, at least in the anglosaxon world...
Having not heard the spontaneous capacity of most of the great minds of history to support their arguments in debate, I still think I'd be amazed to find an intellect more adept at it than Hitchens was.
Love him or hate him, no honest person could deny that his clarity of logical argument was stunning and in many ways, an inspiration to those of us who hold out hope, for reason triumphing over irrational belief.
Roberto--"Pub debater" was perhaps a little bit of a low blow by the commenter when referring to Hitchens' prowess but I have been reading some comments that are far less complimentary than that. I doubt that the editorial staff at The Guardian would agree. In my opinion, he has certainly demonstrated that he is far more than an intellectual lightweight--at least in the Anglo-Saxon world as you pointed out. It is hard to be all things to all people everywhere. I have said more than once here that I do not have to agree with someone 100 percent to admire him. If so, I wouldn't have any friends at all.
The aspect of his career that I admired the most was his erudite literary criticism of which he lamented received far less attention than his other more sensational subjects. Thanks for your comments.
Myriad--I appreciate the comments of dissenters--all of them. Thanks, again.
Miguela (and "your dreamer") what a heartbreaking beautiful insight and and twelve-word "prose poem"!
I will hope to post something more ?"substantive"? later; I'm still (so to say) in the throes of working through the ?"mourning process"?. Cannot thank you enough for your post and your OS availability.
R (of course!!)
@ myriad - not sure I fully understand your cutting(?) remark, but mine wasw just a statement of fact, not more and not less
Here are some excerpts from his letter to American Atheists, which he wrote because of his inability to appear in person for health reasons:
"It is our innate solidarity, and not some despotism of the sky, which is the source of our morality and our sense of decency."
"in the past few years, there have been heartening signs of a genuine and spontaneous resistance to this sinister nonsense: a resistance which repudiates the right of bullies and tyrants to make the absurd claim that they have god on their side. To have had a small part in this resistance has been the greatest honor of my lifetime: the pattern and original of all dictatorship is the surrender of reason to absolutism and the abandonment of critical, objective inquiry. "
"Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous; the courageous pursuit of truth against the fearful and abject forces who would set limits to investigation (and who stupidly claim that we already have all the truth we need). Perhaps above all, we affirm life over the cults of death and human sacrifice and are afraid, not of inevitable death, but rather of a human life that is cramped and distorted by the pathetic need to offer mindless adulation, or the dismal belief that the laws of nature respond to wailings and incantations."
There is a parallel between Hitch's attacks on religion and his vehement opposition to Saddam Hussein.
He writes that "our innate solidarity" is a major source of our morality and decency. His solidarity with friends among the Kurdish opposition to Saddam Hussein is an important theme behind is support for the Iraq war.
But also his courageous, spirited, and tireless campaign of resistance and criticism of all forms of tyranny, dictatorship, and totalitarianism was a common theme in all his thought, whether that tyranny came in political or religious form.
As he wrote: "Our weapons are the ironic mind against the literal: the open mind against the credulous." In thinking about the Iraq war we need to be able to make distinctions, and not lock ourselves into the trap of an indivisible binary that can not be parsed: either for or against.
Certainly to consider loyalty to the left as a reason to criticize Hitch is infantile and lacking in credible seriousness. His opposition to tyranny was consistant, whether that tyranny came from left-wing or right wing despots. His support for removing Saddam was intellectually consistent, as well as personally courageous knowing as he did that the resistance from his traditional allies would be furious.
Where I think we need to make distinctions is to consider the goal of the Iraq War, and the methods that were chosen to achieve that goal. To oppose the war, and to wish it had never happened, is in a sense to wish Saddam were still ruling Iraq. I don't wish this. The goal of liberating a people from a tyrant was a noble one, and Hitchens courageously stood up in support of this principle. The military tactics and disastrous approach to the aftermath of an incompetent and ideologically blinded leadership are the real sources of disaster. If for example, the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq could have been accomplished in a manner similar to the overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya, those of us who opposed and hated the war and it's authors might have felt differently about the whole thing.
My own, personal, ?"cyber"?mourning? for "Hitch" has already taken up half my own personal day so far. Inevitably, many of the comments here have focused on many of the aspects of the man. His life? His writing style? His opinions? His effects? I loved him for his elan and his stylistic wit (*) "but/and" it interested me that in trying to follow this thread so far today, I experienced a sadder quieter sense that somewhere -- in the voluminous body of his published works, I'd read a deeply sane, attentive ongoing report of the people he actually knew in Iraq. That I'd actually at one or more times looked to him for good factual information on this so sad theme that I guess is affecting all of us today also. Sorry to be so longwinded. Miguela; feel free to delete this if I'm hogging up too much time on your post!! ;-)
Hitchens would have enjoyed your tribute to him. I know I did.
Vanity Fair won't be the same...
I wasn't too fond of his style, but I love a good writer regardless, I'm sorry he died so young.
An interesting read; an interesting man. I'll read his book when I stop debating that we'll all go to hell because a life long dear friend's religion says Christmas is in September. I'm not an advocate of religion but I am of spirituality. (don't chide me with your version of the philly steak sandwich; it's enough to know it's out there)
I'm sorry for your loss Miquela. You mentioned his book to me a few months back. He sounds like he was an interesting man.
podunkmarte--I always think my poetry is sour and so your appreciation of what you called my twelve word poem is most welcome. Like you I found Hitchens' style and elan irresistable whether I agreed with him or not. I'll look forward to what more you have to say about him.
Thanks, Chrissie--I stayed up all night to write this and am so glad that you enjoyed it. I do hope that Hitch would have got a charge about the juxtaposition of the dueling tortures. :D
Jeff J--I can't thank you enough for your excellent comment explaining Hitch's support of the war in Iraq. Because I shy away from politics and focus on art and literature in my life, I did not want to have to research a topic that holds little interest for me personally and yet needed to be addressed. Thanks, again.
Reflections of a shallow pond--How right you are. The world got a little dumber when Hitch passed away last night. Thanks.
Blinddream--You are always so generous to me with your kind words and I appreciate it. Guess what I got in the mail today? The most amazing Christmas CD in the world with many artists who are new to me. Merry Christmas, my dear friend.
Than you for this research.
I can't find time to keep up.
I believe we share wild days.
We need honest critiques.
Sell-outs do FEAR demise.
They will wake up too late.
No tell everything. Why?
No caste a pearl before:
a swine in human form.
Gads. To volunteer? Torture.
I'd rather eat dry garlic sticks.
BBC did a great interview too.
I just enjoy the reading script.
Fake "journalist" can go barf.
Woe unto phony-sell-out ilk.
They are the 21st cen scribes.
O, woe. Thanks again for this.
Tribute. He'll be okay. huh?
Immortality. Fools are blind.
Fools attract fools. Sell-Outs.
Post that last-gasp? Oy, woe!
Brava!
r./
He was an intrepid atheist, though, and that counts for a lot in this increasingly creepy Christian society. Bye, Hitch. We hardly knew you.
Rated.
This is the kind of attitude that set him apart as a prince among men. Thanks for this outstanding tribute and for including the links, Miguela.
Thanks for posting.
Warren Z., another Saint & also undoubtedly welcomed w/open arms like Christopher.
I suppose that if you were to ask in the anglosaxon world you would do better than the by now classic divide 0f 99 to 1 (certainly here on OS:)).
We live in a time where people are easily fooled. Very easily.
bnzoot--I can't think of another person who can even come close to replacing his erudite and eloquent views about politics, literature, or culture. Thank you in joining me in this tribute to him.
Frank M--Let me know if you learn of a voice as intellectually honest and elegant as his. Thank you for dropping by to honor his memory
Something only he would say. A stellar post and a tribute to a stellar mind.
R♥
Harry's ghost and MarkinJapan--I thank you for stating your opinion.
Hitchens knew little to nothing about religion, but wrote about it anyway. Good for him -- he had lots of fun in life setting fire to his straw men and women. If there's a heaven, I'm sure he's there already, enjoying himself and entertaining one and all with his outrageous wit.
I am not a believer, but if I was, I would understand that it is a no-fault universe. How could God make us ill and then command us to be well? That would not be fair. If the Father is really there, He will gather all of us, everyone, unto Him. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment about Mr. Hitchens.
Hitchens had a lot of goodness, I think, because he tried so hard to tell and live the truth and because he seems to have made a point of enjoying the life he was given.
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2011/12/16/fait-diver-the-easy-way-out/
He apparently found his way to a new generation who think somehow this is "radical" and "progressive," but frankly I think it's old hat and in the times I saw Hutchins speak, while giving him every opportunty to impress me I found him a gross disappointment. I can't even remember his stance on most issues since I found them so shallow and merely polemical.
I thought he was going to me more than that but he wasn't. Perhaps you can convince me with some stand he took that in fact was brave and far reaching, but my current opinion is that he was a pompous gasbag, and find it hard to believe we are even discussing the same person.
Orwell he was not, Camus he was not, Tony Judt, a far more brave and less appreciated figure he was not. I just don't get it. In fact, I'd put any essay Judt ever wrote against any essay Hutchins ever wrote and don't think it'd be a competition if the work is evaluated on an objective basis. Hutchins strength was self-promotion, (witness the material you present) and that's not what makes for a lasting contribution.
Perhaps Hitchens was self-promoting and inclined to fluff on occasion but I looked forward to every issue of Vanity Fair because he was a regular contributor. Did I approve of or agree with everything he did or said? Of course not, but he has entertained me for over thirty-five years and anyone who has been able to do that so consistently has my respect. Thanks again for adding to the discussion.