Ein köstliches Interview von Stephen Colbert mit dem Kinderbuchautor Maurice Sendak (Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen).
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Sieht ganz nett, aber auch sehr vorhersehbar und langweilig aus.
Christopher Hitchens ist am Donnerstag im Alter von 62 Jahren verstorben. Aus den Massen an Nachrufen habe ich ein paar Auszüge zusammengestellt:
The one word that comes to mind when I think of my brother is ‘courage’. By this I don’t mean the lack of fear which some people have, which enables them to do very dangerous or frightening things because they have no idea what it is to be afraid. I mean a courage which overcomes real fear, while actually experiencing it.
Goodbye, my beloved friend. A great voice falls silent. A great heart stops. Christopher Hitchens, April 13, 1949-December 15, 2011.Stephen Fry:
Goodbye, Christopher Hitchens. You were envied, feared, adored, reviled and loved. Never ignored. Never bested. A great and marvellous man
Christopher Hitchens was a complete one-off, an amazing mixture of writer, journalist, polemicist, and unique character. He was fearless in the pursuit of truth and any cause in which he believed. And there was no belief he held, that he did not advocate with passion, commitment and brilliance. He was an extraordinary, compelling and colourful human being whom it was a privilege to know.Ian McEwan:
His unworldly fluency never deserted him, his commitment was passionate, and he never deserted his trade. He was the consummate writer, the brilliant friend. In Walter Pater’s famous phrase, he burned „with this hard gem-like flame“. Right to the end.June Thomas:
Hitchens’ writing style defied editorial intervention. Consequently, he reduced editors to fact-checkers. He had a prodigious memory, but his head wasn’t just stuffed with lines of poetry and tables of arcane facts: Apparently, he could also recall chunks of prose from the New York Times more or less accurately. Shortly after the news of Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in an airport men’s room broke, Hitchens filed the piece that for me best exemplifies the breadth of his interests and the completeness of his recall—it contained quotes from an obscure academic work, recollections of hilariously profane bathroom graffiti, remembered conversations with British politicians, and lines of satirical verse published decades earlier.Graydon Carter:
Christopher was the beau ideal of the public intellectual. 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.Hannes Stein:
Kein Zweifel: Der Heilige, gesegnet sei Er, hat Christopher Hitchens sofort nach seiner Ankunft in der anderen Welt um ein Autogramm gebeten.
I don‘t think he would mind my saying that I thank God for the privilege of having known him.Tammy Haddad:
Last year I asked him if he would talk to a young writer, Graham Moore, who had just signed with Jonathan Karp at Hitch’s publisher, TWELVE. Hitch guided Moore through the publication of the best selling novel, The Sherlockian. During a book party for The Sherlockian at Vice President Biden’s home, Moore got to meet and thank Hitch for his mentoring. Despite serious health challenges, Hitch was determined to go and finally meet his protégé in person; and in the company of all who glitter in Washington no one twinkled more than Hitch, with Carol and his kids at his side.Hugh Hewitt:
We spent a great deal of time discussing God, and I hope and pray I am correct in my views and that he can concede to me on that subject when we meet again.NPR:
As to his early death, Hitchens told NPR he had been „dealt a pretty good hand by the cosmos, which doesn‘t know I‘m here and won‘t know when I‘m gone.“Andrew Sullivan:
I‘d asked him last year to write a letter to the Immigration Services sponsoring me to finally become a permanent resident of the United States. Who better than my fellow Englishman immigrant of the last 25 years? A while later, he emailed:Without a Hitch – a pictorial eulogy of Christopher Hitchens.“Safely in the U.S. mail. I managed to say that your faith had allowed you to extend a warm hand to so many of your fellow men, and then remolded that bit to make it sound a touch less close to the heart’s desire.
Brunch? Sunday? Smooch Hitch”
I responded,
“lol. many many many thanks. an honor. brunch sounds great. we tend not to be conscious till around noon, tho. xx a”
He replied:
“Dearest Andrew I always think of Sunday lunch as beginning at about 2.30 („a lavish and ruminative feast“, as Waugh says about elevenses). Want to come here?”
Yes, I do, Hitch. Yes, I do.
Zum Abschluß ist hier noch sein Auftritt in der Talkshow Q&A, während seiner Promotour zu God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, zu sehen.
(Dor, Milo: Die weiße Stadt. Wien 1994, S. 114-115)In Bahnhofshallen und vor Bankschaltern, in Spitälern und auf Flugplätzen, an Straßenbahnhaltestellen und in Restaurants, in Amtsstuben, an Grenzübergängen und in Leichenhallen siehst du die Menschen warten, gelangweilt oder heiter, trübsinnig oder zukunftsgläubig, ungeduldig oder apathisch, du siehst sie warten und denkst: die warten auch. Aber das ist dir kein Trost. Du willst dein Leben nicht verwarten wie sie, du willst es nicht in den tiefen Schlund der Zeit werfen – Adieu, auf Nimmerwiedersehen –, du willst es in die Hand nehmen, du willst jede Sekunde nützen, wie es sich gehört. Und dann wartest du, genauso wie die anderen. Du wartest auf ein Bier, eine Suppe, einen Braten, einen Kaffee, du wartest auf den Abend, auf ein Mädchen, auf den Beischlaf, auf den Schlaf. Du wartest auf morgen, du wartest auf das Geld, das nie ankommt, wenn du es erwartest, du wartest auf die Liebe, auf einen Freund, einen Brief, auf ein Wort, du wartest auf den Sommer und auf den Winter, du wartest immer, du wartest. daß jemand deinen Trödlerladen betritt und dir etwas abkauft, einen Alten Stuhl mit nur drei Beinen, einen blinden Spiegel oder eine zerbrochene Vase, du wartest, daß es einmal besser wird, du wartest, daß etwas geschieht, was deinem Leben wieder einen Sinn geben könnte, du wartest auf Glück, du wartest auf Gnade, du wartest auf Segen, auf Milde und Verständnis und Vergebung, du wartest auf die Stunde deines Todes, du wartest auf die Auferstehung, aber du wartest vergeblich. Du gehörst nicht zu denen, die auferstehen werden; sollten jemals welche auferstehen, du wirst nicht dabei sein. Du warst, du bist, aber du wirst nicht sein. Du wartest umsonst.
Die langerwartete Verfilmung von Hunter S. Thompsons erstem Roman. [via Totally Gonzo]
Die Literaturzeitschrift Paris Review weist auf das Buch The Little Blue Book: A Critical and Political Analysis of the Smurf Society von Antoine Buéno hin, in welchem er die Gesellschaft der Schlümpfe folgendermaßen beschreibt:
Smurfs, charming blue imps or horrible Stalinists, racists, and antisemites? … In complete autocracy, the smurf society is collectivist and directed by a single and omnipotent leader, the great Smurf. They are ridiculous puritans … Racism is obvious in the black Smurf album where purity of blood becomes vital … Or in that of The Smurfette, where the blond Aryan is idealized. Their sworn enemy, Gargamel, has a profile reminiscent of an antisemitic caricature and his cat is named Azraël.Nachtrag (via Boing Boing): Im Interview mit dem Guardian sagte Buéno noch dies:
People think I‘m moralising, which isn‘t my approach at all, (Buéno says). I analyse fairly, I have fun … I do not want to disenchant. One can keep one’s childhood approach and impose on top an analytical approach which smiles to itself.“He believes the emotional nature of the responses stems from the Smurfs‘ place in fans‘ childhoods. „It’s linked to childhood – it’s ‚don‘t touch my Smurfs! Don‘t touch my Proust’s madeleine!‘,“ he said. Le Petit Livre Bleu is a „true monograph, the first ever done on the Smurfs“, says Buéno, and is „rigorous and thorough and documented“, based on intuitions expressed long before his book, including the „Cold War paranoia“ that Smurf stood for „Small Men Under Red Force“, and exploring his belief that „popular works, however innocent they seem, have much to say about our society“.
But despite its serious purpose, the book „does not take itself seriously“, he said. „My approach is schoolboy, somewhat in the spirit of Monty Python (my heroes) … Of course it’s funny to talk about totalitarianism, Stalinism and nazism for small animals as friendly, innocent and popular as the Smurfs,“ he said. „It’s so obvious that I didn‘t think I would have to spell it out…“
Buéno added that he does not believe the Smurfs‘ creator Peyo, a pen name for the late Belgian artist Pierre Culliford, added the racist overtones to the Smurfs deliberately. „Peyo was not at all politicised; all this was unconscious,“ he said.
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