Great article.... "In whatever kind of a “race” life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist... To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?"
I started listening to Hitch-22 (read by Hitchens) after a slate.com podcast tricked me into an Audible account. Until now, I've mostly understood him through his latter-year pseudo-neocon politics (I stress 'pseudo') re: Iraq and his god-is-not-great commitments to atheism (or maybe more accurately, against religion).
The memoir, it goes without saying, puts all that in a much larger - and more wonderful/nuanced - context. To me he has become a more challenging and colorful thinker as I've considered his whole career - and not just the last decade. Now, when approaching his recent political notoriety for his support for the war as a part of this larger story, I'm reminded of Camus's break with the left during the Algerian independence movement. (Another great thinker taken before his time.) Not deluded, nor an opportunist, but someone who seems to consider ethical problems on his own terms - and w/o consideration of external personal consequences.
Anyway, this whole cancer thing, just as I was beginning to familiarize myself with the guy and his work, has got me a bit shaken up. Its too bad. A beautiful mind, an unbelievable history, and probably a fun guy to get drunk with.
1 comment:
Great article.... "In whatever kind of a “race” life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist... To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: Why not?"
I started listening to Hitch-22 (read by Hitchens) after a slate.com podcast tricked me into an Audible account. Until now, I've mostly understood him through his latter-year pseudo-neocon politics (I stress 'pseudo') re: Iraq and his god-is-not-great commitments to atheism (or maybe more accurately, against religion).
The memoir, it goes without saying, puts all that in a much larger - and more wonderful/nuanced - context. To me he has become a more challenging and colorful thinker as I've considered his whole career - and not just the last decade. Now, when approaching his recent political notoriety for his support for the war as a part of this larger story, I'm reminded of Camus's break with the left during the Algerian independence movement. (Another great thinker taken before his time.) Not deluded, nor an opportunist, but someone who seems to consider ethical problems on his own terms - and w/o consideration of external personal consequences.
Anyway, this whole cancer thing, just as I was beginning to familiarize myself with the guy and his work, has got me a bit shaken up. Its too bad. A beautiful mind, an unbelievable history, and probably a fun guy to get drunk with.
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