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Christopher Hitchens dies from cancer
WRITER Christopher Hitchens died today at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, aged 62.
Hitchens died of pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer, Vanity Fair announced on their website today. Hitchens was a regular contributor to the magazine.
Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2010 soon after the publication of his memoir Hitch 22, and began chemotherapy soon after.
He was a man of insatiable appetites - for cigarettes, for scotch, for company, for great writing, and, above all, for conversation, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said in an essay announcing Hitchens' death, published on the magazine's website.
To his friends, Christopher will be remembered for his elevated but inclusive humor and for a staggering, almost punishing memory that held up under the most liquid of late-night conditions. And to all of us, his readers, Christopher Hitchens will be remembered for the millions of words he left behind. They are his legacy. And, God love him, it was his will.
In the June 2011 issue of the magazine the writer and intellectual wrote: ââ¬ÅMy chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅCancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic.
Known for his militant humanism and independence, Hitchens was a prolific writer known for his essays in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Slate and for his best-selling manifesto for atheists, God is Not Great and other books.
He believed in pluralism and racial justice and freedom of speech, big cities and fine art.
The English-born, Oxford-educated Hitchens, a noted enfant terrible in the literary world, was a public figure who appeared regularly on TV and has had his work published in a myriad of magazines including The New Statesman, The Atlantic, Slate and The Nation.
He was well-known for his prolific consumption of alcohol and cigarettes.
It was reported that the chain-smoking Hitchens gave up smoking cigarettes in 2008, though a profile piece in The Washington Post in June last year showed that he was still indulging in the habit.
In 2003, he famously quipped that his daily intake of alcohol was enough to kill or stun the average mule.
Hitchens, once a darling of the left, famously underwent an ideological shift in recent years especially after 9/11, that saw him support the Iraq war and lose the support of many of his former admirers.
He had an output to equal what he took in was the miracle in the man. You'd be hard-pressed to find a writer who could match the volume of exquisitely crafted columns, essays, articles, and books he produced over the past four decades, wrote Carter.
You felt as though he was writing to you and to you alone. And as a result many readers felt they knew him. Walking with him down the street in New York or through an airplane terminal was like escorting a movie star through the throngs.
Hitchens is survived by his wife Carol Blue, an American writer, and three daughters, two of whom were from a previous marriage.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/author-christopher-hitchens-dies/story-e6frfkp9-1226224211638
WRITER Christopher Hitchens died today at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, aged 62.
Hitchens died of pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer, Vanity Fair announced on their website today. Hitchens was a regular contributor to the magazine.
Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2010 soon after the publication of his memoir Hitch 22, and began chemotherapy soon after.
He was a man of insatiable appetites - for cigarettes, for scotch, for company, for great writing, and, above all, for conversation, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said in an essay announcing Hitchens' death, published on the magazine's website.
To his friends, Christopher will be remembered for his elevated but inclusive humor and for a staggering, almost punishing memory that held up under the most liquid of late-night conditions. And to all of us, his readers, Christopher Hitchens will be remembered for the millions of words he left behind. They are his legacy. And, God love him, it was his will.
In the June 2011 issue of the magazine the writer and intellectual wrote: ââ¬ÅMy chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅCancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic.
Known for his militant humanism and independence, Hitchens was a prolific writer known for his essays in magazines such as Vanity Fair and Slate and for his best-selling manifesto for atheists, God is Not Great and other books.
He believed in pluralism and racial justice and freedom of speech, big cities and fine art.
The English-born, Oxford-educated Hitchens, a noted enfant terrible in the literary world, was a public figure who appeared regularly on TV and has had his work published in a myriad of magazines including The New Statesman, The Atlantic, Slate and The Nation.
He was well-known for his prolific consumption of alcohol and cigarettes.
It was reported that the chain-smoking Hitchens gave up smoking cigarettes in 2008, though a profile piece in The Washington Post in June last year showed that he was still indulging in the habit.
In 2003, he famously quipped that his daily intake of alcohol was enough to kill or stun the average mule.
Hitchens, once a darling of the left, famously underwent an ideological shift in recent years especially after 9/11, that saw him support the Iraq war and lose the support of many of his former admirers.
He had an output to equal what he took in was the miracle in the man. You'd be hard-pressed to find a writer who could match the volume of exquisitely crafted columns, essays, articles, and books he produced over the past four decades, wrote Carter.
You felt as though he was writing to you and to you alone. And as a result many readers felt they knew him. Walking with him down the street in New York or through an airplane terminal was like escorting a movie star through the throngs.
Hitchens is survived by his wife Carol Blue, an American writer, and three daughters, two of whom were from a previous marriage.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/author-christopher-hitchens-dies/story-e6frfkp9-1226224211638
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