Mortality

I feel as though a dear friend has died. Someone very undeserving of such situation. Hitchens was a world-class writer and this collection of excerpts is a must-read for everyone

This week, I read an autobiography entitled, "MORTALITY," by one of my favorite authors, Christopher Hitchens. This biography held a bit of a strange format for me, because it was written from the point of view of a prominent atheist writer/columnist that had just been diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer. The (admittedly short) biography that would follow was full of humility, admittance of mortality, and wry humor. Anyone who knows Hitchens work knows that he was a commanding orator, as well as a staggering (and oft times acerbic) conductor of the English language. This book bleakly depicts his swift acquiesce to the disease. Painfully, it points out his loss of speech, ability to form a collective thought, and eventual loss of ability to write altogether. He sees the irony in this: "the blasphemous atheist stricken with throat cancer," etc, etc. But what I found most compelling about this book was the very last chapter. The last chapter is filled with his notes on how the book came to be. An idea scribbled between agonizing treatments or glad-handed meetings. Seeds planted in an ailing mind. No paragraph is longer than two sentences. Having been a first hand spectator to cancer, I can attest to the 'wide eyed' energy that comes to the patient in short waves. To me, it was an easy reminder of my own humanity to read these notes, and see their cohesiveness slip as time progressed. Hitchens, who died peacefully at a hospice facility on 12/15/2011 (my 26th birthday) argued that atheism gave us a sense of urgency. Our actions do not, in fact echo in eternity; so it is always up to us to be fair minded, philanthropic, and always skeptical citizens in a world that tries to make us anything but. Nothing is guaranteed, so do the most you can with what you have, while you can. Hitchens never apologized for the lifestyle that likely led to his cancer, nor does he blame any deity for it's heredity (his father died of the same malady.) One review called this book a "crash course in humanity." I call it a rare glimpse into a person that really dives into their fate, and unflinchingly tries to convey appreciation for the beauty of living a fully cognizant life.

Christopher Hitchens is dead, but he lived long enough to tell us of his dying. Reporter extraordinaire, atheist provocateur, prolific author, and acerbic commentator and debater, Christopher Hitchens died in 2011. His dying was (quite fittingly) a literary morbidity: he wrote of it in a small, posthumously published book called Mortality. (The book also includes a foreword by Graydon Carter and an afterward by Carol Blue, Hitchens's widow.) Unlike most, who die un-narrated deaths, he knew of his impending demise, retained his writing prowess, and lived long enough to tell us of his dying. In so doing, he reveals how one very articulate and intractable atheist came to terms with his imminent demise. Hitchens was an iconoclast (even writing a book against Mother Theresa called, in bad taste, The Missionary Position), a masterful conversationalist, and intrepid enough to write on some topics he was not fit to pronounce upon. Consider his best-selling and embarrassing harangue, god is not Great (2006). This anti-religious sentiment pops up throughout the book, hurled more as hand grenades than laid out as arguments. I will address a few of these below, particularly the question of the logic of prayer. (Hitchens's lack of philosophical acuity is painfully obvious in his debate with Christian philosopher, William Lane Craig, which is available on line.) In the middle of a book tour for a memoir, Hitch-22, Hitchens came down with severe symptoms that were later found to be esophageal cancer, a rapid and rarely curable form of this perennial plague on humanity. Hitchens tells his story without self-pity or lugubrious detail. In fact, he writes with a kind of detachment--here are the facts; here are my reflections on them--but not without some pathos. This slim volume is a less a lament than a report, which is apt enough, given Hitchens' vocation. But it, nevertheless, discloses something of the sting of death, inflicted on one without the hope of the gospel. Hitchens remains a naturalist to the end: everyone dies; there is no afterlife; that is the way it is--and I might as well write about it. Hitchens does his best to defeat the Grim Reaper, but progressively realizes that his chances of recovery are slim and finds no reason to hope against hope. So, he submits to whatever may slow his death, ameliorate his pain, and give him more time to write and speak. He is never sentimental, and offers some astute insights into dying, albeit dying without hope in the world to come. Nevertheless, Christians have an entirely different perspective on mortality, as Paul says, "Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope" (2 Thessalonians 4:13; see also vs. 14-18). As he dies writing, Hitchens considers some clichés on the matter, such as Friedrich Nietzsche's often-invoked-but-seldom-thought-through aphorism, "What does not kill you makes you stronger." Hitchens once thought this profound, but changed his mind in the grip of mortality. Yes, suffering can strengthen one, but it also tears one down. He says, "In the brute physical world, and the one encompassed by medicine, there are all too many things that could kill you, don't kill you, and then leave you considerably weaker" (60). Hitchens then goes on to reflect on the truth of this statement as illustrated in the life of Nietzsche himself (60-63), a man much enfeebled--especially in his intellectual judgments--through certain turns of circumstance, particularly the debilitating mental illness that closed out the last decade or so of his tragi-comic life. Of course, Hitchens had no recourse to the concept of the fall of humanity is space-time history, but Christians realize that "life under the sun" (Ecclesiastes) is replete with suffering, pain, and unfairness--much of it seemingly meaningless, as the Preacher said: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11, KJV). East of Eden (Genesis 3; Romans 3) and before the New Jerusalem descends on to the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21-22), we live in the time between Christ's resurrection and the consummation of all things at the Eschaton. What does not kill us, may or may not make us stronger. However, if we are "in Christ" (as the Apostle Paul so often says) we can know that our suffering (even when not understood) is not wasted or finally absurd, since Christ himself ensured the final victory over sin, death, and hell through his Cross and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). Therefore, we soldier on, bruised, bloodied, betrayed, benumbed by the scorched sorrows of this groaning world (Romans 8:18-26), and yet with a hope that "does not disappoint us" (Romans 5:5). Sadly, in Mortality, Hitchens reflects, instructs, and rebukes, but he could not hope that the final enemy of death would ever be defeated. In fact, in his demise he continued his apologetic against religion and Christianity. Consider his contemptuous argument against prayer, which is a staple of the Christian life (1 Thessalonians 5:17). After writing of Christians who told him that they were praying for him, Hitchens attacks the very logic of prayer. He gets off to a snickering and clever start by quoting Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary: "Prayer: A petition that the laws of nature be suspended in favor of the petitioner; himself confessedly unworthy" (21). Hitchens dilates on this by explaining the apparent absurdity of a mere mortal informing the Immortal Sovereign on how He (God) should govern the universe. One could set up the argument this way (although Hitchens does not put it in an analytical form). God is sovereign and all-good. Humans are mortal and sinful. Therefore (a), God has no need for prayer by mortal and sinful humans, given his character (1). Therefore (b), Humans have no need for prayer, since it would be superfluous at best and presumptuous at worst. But this line of argument commits the straw man fallacy by misconstruing the nature of prayer, biblically understood. First, there are many dimensions to prayer besides intercession (asking God to do something in the world). The Bible is graced with many prayers and many kinds of prayer, including praise, lament, confession, thanksgiving, and more. Second, intercession is not meaningless or illogical if God is sovereign and all-good. Consider this counter-argument: God, who is sovereign and good, has instituted intercession as one means by which he rules the world. That is, God ordains both the means (including intercessory prayer) and the ends (the final result of his sovereign will). God instructs us on how to engage in intercessory prayer in the Bible and enjoins us to pray accordingly. Therefore, we should intercede with God according to biblical truths, as best we can ascertain them as fallen mortals. There is nothing illogical about the above argument; it makes perfect sense. To those who say, "If God is sovereign, why pray?" one can retort, "If God is sovereign, why eat?" (This is from a lecture given by the late philosopher and theologian Greg Bahnsen.) God has set up the world in such a way as to make prayer meaningful. Further, prayer can shape the character of the one who prays, whether or not our requests are granted. Spirit-led prayer changes us for the better, whatever other effects it may have. Christians can and should hold firm to these truths, Hitchens's (well-written) banter to the contrary. Sadly, some Christians responded in an ungodly way to Hitchens's disease. Hitchens quotes a statement from a web site that gloats over his malignancy, since Hitchens was such an ardent atheist and cutting critic of Christianity. He's going to writhe in agony and pain and wither away to nothing and then die a horrible agonizing death, and THEN comes the real fun, when he's sent to HELLFIRE forever to be tortured and set afire (12). Orthodox Christians should, on the basis of the Bible, believe in an eternal hell and its divine justice (Matthew 25:31-46); but this website's manner of exulting in eternal torment is both unnerving and unbiblical. Jesus himself lamented over the rebellion of his own people. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Matthew 23:35). Or ponder God's statement through the prophet Ezekiel: "For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!" (Ezekiel 18:32). The death of Christopher Hitchens at age sixty-two robbed the world of a brilliant wit, a flamboyant character, and a larger-than-life life. But living larger than life--apart from Christ, life itself (John 10:30)--does nothing to defeat death. We should lament the loss of Hitchens's gifts, but lament even more the loss of Christopher Hitchens himself, given his unrepentant rebellion against the very God who gave him those literary gifts.

This brief book is mostly a compilation of essays that Christopher Hitchens wrote in the last nineteen months of his life after he was diagnosed with cancer. A prolific writer, journalist and speaker, Hitchens' essays were always what I turned to first in both the online magazine Slate, and in Vanity Fair magazine. What I find most fascinating about these essays is that Hitchens is as opinionated and brilliant as ever, despite the increasing pain and disability brought on by his disease. He questioned everything, from how society deals with cancer (referring to "battling" the disease in a way never referred to with heart or kidney disease), to his anguish at the realization of "lasts" in his life which most of us never have to confront (the last time he traveled to his native England, the movies he would not see and books he would not read, the weddings of his children he would not attend.) This book is witty and wry. He recounts conversations with well-meaning fans, friends and family which annoy him. He comments on his empathy for the medical personnel who find doing their jobs harder as his body shuts down and even finding a vein to stick becomes an ordeal. He tries to tell his readers what the process of dying means, even as he holds out hope that the experimental medical treatments he undergoes may work. Hitchens is blunt about his journey, and he does not shy away from acknowledging points of view which differ from his own. An outspoken critic of organized religion and religious dogma, Hitchens nevertheless writes about doubt and about those he admires who do not share his philosophies. As another reviewer pointed out, one of the most interesting chapters is the last one which is comprised of notes for a book about his cancer journey which he did not live to write. Glimpsing the creative process of a writer like Hitchens is a gift. The forward by his friend, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, and the afterword by his wife, writer Carol Blue, provide further insight into the mind of this fascinating man. This edition of the book, published by TwelveBooks, with a simple black dustjacket, a photo of Hitchens on the back, and printed on high-quality paper, is quite wonderful for the reader/collector. Highly recommended.

Sad, insightful, funny, poignant. This collection demonstrates what Richard Dawkins wrote in his obituary for the Hitch ("Illness made Hitchens a symbol of the honesty and dignity of atheism"): "And in the very way he looked his illness in the eye, he embodied one part of the case against religion. Leave it to the religious to mewl and whimper at the feet of an imaginary deity in their fear of death; leave it to them to spend their lives in denial of its reality. Hitch looked it squarely in the eye: not denying it, not giving in to it, but facing up to it squarely and honestly and with a courage that inspires us all. "Before his illness, it was as an erudite author, essayist and sparkling, devastating speaker that this valiant horseman led the charge against the follies and lies of religion. During his illness he added another weapon to his armoury and ours – perhaps the most formidable and powerful weapon of all: his very character became an outstanding and unmistakable symbol of the honesty and dignity of atheism, as well as of the worth and dignity of the human being when not debased by the infantile babblings of religion. "Every day of his declining life he demonstrated the falsehood of that most squalid of Christian lies: that there are no atheists in foxholes. Hitch was in a foxhole, and he dealt with it with a courage, an honesty and a dignity that any of us would be, and should be, proud to be able to muster. And in the process, he showed himself to be even more deserving of our admiration, respect, and love."

Other reviewers have already made comment on this book's overall structure. This is a fine reprinting of Hitch's award-winning essays as he approached his final hour, so there is no new information in most of the book. In his inimitable way, he draws you in not only with his fine prose, but his humanity. You can't help but feel pathos in this work. And where the emotion ends, he lines up the last words and wisdom of so many other literary figures as evidence for his case on "dying livingly." What makes this book worthy to add to your bookshelf is the final chapter, the unpublished scribblings of Hitchens which give us a window not only into his final thoughts, but perhaps how the master crafted his essays...first as an idea, then a polished quip or two. For me, these classic one-liners and Hitch-slaps are worth the price of the book. The final tribute, by his wife Carol, gives us more insight into the private man than he allowed himself in his memoir, Hitch-22. If there is one error, it was made by Hitchens himself, who lamented that he might not live to write the obituaries of his villains--Kissinger and Pope Benedict. In fact, he had already done so in his canon of work, from "The Trial of Henry Kissinger" to "god is Not Great." In these works, he managed to in fact, have the final word on Kissinger, Catholicism, and many other sacred cows that are "dead enough"--as he might have quipped. He now joins the pantheon--pardon the word--of past great critics, from Twain to Mencken. For the literate, he will always live on. Overall, A moving, swift read that will linger in your mind long after the last page.

You may recall my discussion of Christopher Hitchens in my review of Hitch 22 on July 21, 2010. He famously debated his brother Peter at GVSU in April 2008 and parts of that may still be available on youtube. Part of my description follows towit- "He began his political career while a student as a demonstrator, activist, reactionary, almost revolutionist, Marxist, atheist (secular humanist), protest whore and rabble rouser; and that is his description. He prefers the term Trotskyite. Others have described him as pompous, over blown, narcissistic, grandiose, overly analytical- unwilling to grant any point even for the sake of the argument, and egotistical. Hey nobody's perfect. He is also considered elegant, classy, charismatic, speaks the upper British vernacular, has an almost unequaled intellect (uses words like apotropaically & Brobdingnagian) and a razor sharp edge in debating able mentally to cross reference everything he has ever read, seen or heard. He was a frequent guest on Firing Line and many other debate formats. He noted that the problem with Marx was that he failed to grasp the revolutionary nature of capitalist innovation. He also left the Left which he felt lost its moral advantage when it became credential to be Black, gay, female, handicapped, etc rather than being on the ground in the struggle or at least down for it". You will recall at that time I also noted he was suffering from Esophageal cancer. He has in the interim died, without I might add, a deathbed conversion from his avowed Atheism. Well he, or rather his survivor, has published a book which was to be his final book, entitled Mortality (as opposed apparently to immortality). It is not nearly as long as he had hoped and towards the end is simply snippets. Notwithstanding its brevity it nevertheless sparkles with his wit, wisdom and intellect. His bent was to write the way one speaks and not many were his speaking equal. His favorite things on earth were cigarettes, Scotch, good writing, company & conversation. He wrote books, essays, papers and book reviews. He was the consummate raconteur. He passed away December 15,2011 at age 62. To his dismay and amusement there was an "Everybody Pray for Hitchens" day proclaimed by some of his friends and acquaintances September 20, 2010. I purchased this small volume on the anniversary of that date. 2.75* GIBO

I began reading Mortality, Christopher Hitchens' newest book--his final book--on the day it was released. I couldn't sleep that day, so woke up in the wee hours, downloaded it to the iPad and began reading. It's not a long work, so did not take more than a couple of hours. Like everything Hitchens wrote, Mortality is brilliant and insightful and well-written and utterly defiant. One of the best-known and most widely-respected of the New Atheists, he both denied and hated God to the end. Hitchens was only sixty-two when he died. He had just released a memoir, Hitch-22, and was on a book tour to promote it when he suddenly developed terrible pain in his chest and thorax. He began a long and ultimately unsuccessful treatment for esophageal cancer and died eighteen months later in December of 2011. In the time between he penned a series of columns for Vanity Fair and those columns form the basis of Mortality. Not surprisingly, they deal with illness and death and...mortality. I read this book as a Christian, exactly the kind of person Hitchens wrote against--a Bible-believing, God-fearing theist. Yet I read it with far more sadness and pity than offense. At times in his voluminous writings Hitchens was monstrously unfair to Evangelical Christians, lumping us in with the Fred Phelps' and Muslim extremists of the world. At other times he was guardedly respectful. This book spans both extremes. Many professed Christians earned his disrespect. Take the author of this comment that Hitchens came across while traveling the World Wide Web: Who else feels Christopher Hitchens getting terminal throat cancer [sic] was God's revenge for him using his voice to blaspheme him? Atheists like to ignore FACTS. They like to act like everything is a "coincidence." Really? It's just a "coincidence" [that] out of any part of his body, Christopher Hitchens got cancer in the one part of his body he used for blasphemy? Yeah, keep believing that, Atheists. He's going to writhe in agony and pain and wither away to nothing and then die a horrible agonizing death, and THEN comes the real fun, when he's sent to HELLFIRE forever to be tortured and set afire. Of course not all Christians reacted with such glee and such firm confidence of an intimate understanding of God's providence. There were others who were kind, who told him that, like it or not, they would pray for him, and who sought to bring him encouragement. While several of the essays carry on Hitchens' arguments against the existence of God and for the futility of faith, others simply look at the cold, hard facts of battling cancer (though he was more of the opinion that cancer was battling him). These entries trace the physical decline, the pain, and the utter indignity of suffering and death. But they do it with no real hope. Death was fast approaching and Hitchens acknowledged nothing, no good, beyond that moment. Just as many Christians have felt the need to finish strong, to serve as an example of faithfulness to the end, Hitchens knew that many eyes were turned to him to see if at the end he would relent, if before he died he would at the very least accept Pascal's Wager. As far as we know, he did not. He was a resolute atheist to the end. He left behind not only this collection of essays, but also little fragments from a notebook that are collected at the end. Some of them are nearly meaningless, some are reflective ("Morning of biopsy, wake and say whatever happens this is the last day of my old life. No pretense of youth or youthfulness anymore. From now on an arduous awareness.") while others are tantalizing. "If I convert it's because it's better that a believer dies than that an atheist does." I would have enjoyed seeing him tease out that one. Unlike Hitchens' other books, this one ends without a conclusion, without wrapping things up. Though he knew that his condition was fatal, though he knew he had only a short time to live, still he hoped to write at least one more chapter, one more essay. But perhaps it is fitting that his death was the final chapter, that the book concluded when his life concluded. To the moment of death he was as in life, honest, eloquent and defiant.

Estoicismo y no pedazos. Bárbaro, brutal. El Hitch impuso un estándar muy alto sobre como afrontar la muerte como ateo.

今までも世界中の不合理な現実に異議申し立てをしてきたヒッチンズ。死を目の前にしてもその立場に揺るぎはない。生存の可能性にかけて淡々とできることをこなしていく姿は下手なドラマよりよほど感動的である。しかし、その描写はヒッチンズ独自の表現で彩られている。その中で、「死を目前に突然宗教を信じるようようなるのは」という周囲の期待（？）に反して「自分の立場は変わらない。」と明言している。 それにしても、もっと生きていて欲しかった。反宗教の立場を取りながら、それでも宗教者も含め幅広い交流ができる彼のような存在は稀だからだ。そして自分が不合理だと思えることを徹底的に追求できるジャーナリストはそうそういるものではない。彼は日本で紹介されることは少ないが、それは日本の曖昧で無責任な、それでいて建前だけはしっかり守ろうとするマスメディアの姿勢に鋭いＮＯを突きつけている。

Most of us have had contact with cancer in our lives - we've either experienced it firsthand or know (or known) a family member or friend who has had it - and in each instance it's been horrible, an experience unlikely to provide you with much and likely to take a lot from you, if not everything. But most of us aren't Christopher Hitchens - if fact none of us are, and that's why we know who was. He was a unique voice whose essays, columns, articles, and books made the person reading them much more enriched having read them. "Mortality" is his last book (though I'm sure further anthologies of unpublished material will appear in the years ahead) detailing his fatal encounter with esophageal cancer, from discovering it while on a book tour promoting his memoir "Hitch 22", to the final pages which are scraps of notes for future (and now forever unwritten) writings. But it's not a sad book. Hitchens was ruthless in his approach to subjects and he is no less so when dealing with himself and "the alien" (which is how he characterises his cancer) - no sentimentality or feeling sorry for himself is allowed on the page. He is informative, funny, and stubborn all at once when writing on the reaction among religious groups when news of his cancer was reported with some Christians instigating a "Pray for Hitch" day - a day he encourages everyone to ignore. He also reinforces his atheist position, almost aggressively, writing "What if I pulled through and the pious faction contentedly claimed that their prayers had been answered? That would somehow be irritating." As if he wanted to die to once more further his argument that there is no God! If this book shows anything it is that death and the prospect of death does not change the person, and that Hitchens remained dignified and his own person right to the end. There are essays on coping with the cancer treatment which is almost as bad as the cancer, and a fantastic piece on Nietzsche and the etymology of the phrase "whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger". The book is full of rich writing displaying a luminous and inquisitive mind, questioning death, the mundanity of illness, and moving from issues of existence to anecdotes of past columns such as the time he underwent waterboarding to experience how bad a torture it is (very bad as it turns out, traumatising in fact). Also included is a foreword by Hitchen's editor at Vanity Fair Graydon Carter and a moving afterword by his wife Carol Blue. Our culture lost a brilliant mind on December 15, 2011, and "Mortality" is a fine coda to a man who lived life fearlessly and wrote some of the best reportage of the last 50 years. Christopher Hitchens remains an essential writer to read.

Hitchens is a neat earthquake of words, concepts with no exceptions! No rambling, only punches and recoils at the horizon.

This is a book that should be read. Whether like me you have been close to someone going through the same ordeal or like many of us who will experience the same, it is at the same time a form of catharsis and a preparation for what may come. As ever with his writing it is entertaining but more sadly it increases the feeling of loss that there will be no more.