by Michael Thomson |
Christopher Hitchens (Apr 13, 1949-Dec 15, 2011)
In a short story I submitted to Forum, I jokingly paid tribute a writer and personal hero of mine, Christopher Hitchens, knowing that the dreadful day would eventually come when he would truly fall silent. Like a sick joke, cancer claimed his voice before it claimed his life. But in true heroic fashion, “Hitch” continued to work, critiquing and writing to the very end. All one has to do is pick up one of his books, or one of his countless essays or articles he has left behind and there it is, his sharp wit, infused into his command of language, framed in beautiful writing. Now that almost a week has passed, the sting yet to fade, what is there to say? Well for sure, regardless of what you thought of the man, one could say without fear of being branded a liar, that all of humanity has lost a voice of wisdom, beauty and reason. It took a day for the news to sink in, and when it did, I unexpectedly found myself choking back sobs for the loss of this man, a stranger to me, but someone I felt I somehow knew through his seismic works. It was something I had not done since the sobfest I had after my father passed. You are gone Hitch, and the world definitely feels a bit empty because of it. However, you live on in many minds, in the unapologetic way you championed truth and logic. Well done sir.
Michael Thomson is Forum’s Fiction Editor.
Forum Literary Magazine 