"His drinking was not something to admire, and it was not a charming foible. Maybe sometimes it made him warm and expansive, but I never saw that side of it. What I saw was that drinking made him angry and combative and bullying, often toward people who were way out of his league—elderly guests on the Nation cruise, interns (especially female interns). Drinking didn’t make him a better writer either—that’s another myth. Christopher was such a practiced hand, with a style that was so patented, so integrally an expression of his personality, he was so sure he was right about whatever the subject, he could meet his deadlines even when he was totally sozzled. But those passages of pointless linguistic pirouetting? The arguments that don’t track if you look beneath the bravura phrasing? Forgive the cliche: That was the booze talking."
—Katha Pollitt eulogizes Christopher Hitchens.
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As a fan of Hitchens, I often thought that he would have been well served to write less frequently. Many of his reviews in The Atlantic read as if written by a drunk man — very in love with his own turns of phrase — just prattling on about a bunch of ideas that struck him while thinking about the work in question.
And as a fan of both drinking and writing, I try not to mix the two — except on Twitter/Facebook while watching Saints games.
"especially female interns" SHOCKED, I AM SHOCKED.
@HiredGoons: the trick about drinking while writing is to find the line between elucidated and charming & boozy misanthrope; it's a line that lasts for about 12 minutes, tops.
@HiredGoons Wait a minute. I can be misanthropic without alcohol.
@HiredGoons this 12 minute window of peak booze performance applies to bowling and shooting pool as well.
@whizz_dumb Get OUT of my head.
@whizz_dumb: GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!
I never, never, NEVER write when I am drunk. I can't pull that shit off, especially when I am making an argument. But it worked pretty much for Hitchens, minus the odd piece when you totally could tell he was either drunk or (also quite often) hung over.
Did he move in a man's world, orbited by guys? Probably. I don't think I've seen a remembrance of him from a woman, nor do i ever remember him having a female intern. I can't defend that, nor do I want to emulate my mentor in that respect.
Besides the absolutely horrifying possibility of being trapped for days in the middle of the ocean with the magazine's staff — and whatever "special musical guests" it might deem hip and now — this is another reason I am delighted I have a severe allergic reaction to the phrase "Nation cruise."
@TennisCourtOaf Hey now. This year it was Steve Earle and Alison Moorer — not as much "hip and now" as "left-friendly and not Jackson Browne (he gets this year off)."
@TennisCourtOaf I think we can spot Hitchens that one… his old nemesis Mother Teresa would have a hard time staying sober on such a voyage.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people discussing Hitchens was meaningful.
Hitchens was a wonderful, brilliant, flawed man. In my memories I emphasize the wonderful
@TennisCourtOaf I think we can spot Hitchens that one… his old nemesis Mother Teresa would have a hard time staying sober on such a voyage.
@Honest Engine: as much as I dislike blowhards, anyone who can make an enemy out of Mother Teresa has to have been good for something.
Drunk Man Disliked Women
And, Woman Disliked Drunk Man (sort of)
But what does his fatherless daughter think?
Being around a tsking church lady-type like Pollitt would swerve my buzz toward the grumpy side too.
I once read a blog in which the writer briefly considered signing on for a Nation cruise, but scotched the idea at the thought of the line of pale flabby men queued up to get in the hot tub w/ Katarina VandenHeuvel.
Classy move, Katha, gossiping about a dead guy. If I ever found myself on a boat w/ laugh-a-minute Katha I'd take my chances going over the rail. "L'enfer, c'est les autres."