Hitch

The eminent journalist and contrarian Christopher Hitchens, in the words of his contemporary Stephen Fry, "was one of very, very few people on earth whom I would have missed just as much had I never had the pleasure and fortune of knowing him." Like most, I hadn't the fortune of knowing Hitchens, but news of his death was met with profound regret. The knowledge that unpleasant news will arrive at some point does little to diminish the unpleasantness when it does. Although I would like to think I have Orwell's described "power of facing unpleasant facts," I couldn't believe how sad I felt.

It is perhaps a testament to a writer's relationship with his readers that one man's death has inspired such a uniquely heartfelt international reaction; although, in truth, it proves something a little more personal to Hitchens himself and the way in which his writing was loved by so many. "The most satisfying compliment a reader can pay is to tell me that he or she feels personally addressed," he once wrote. Clearly, Hitchens was owed such a compliment many thousands of times over.

Due to my absence from the blogosphere, this post has only been made available at this website recently (17 January 2012). It was written in the days following the death of Christopher Hitchens, the author in question.