Abrazo.

William Grimes, "Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, With Wit," in The New York Times, December 16, 2011, at p. A1. ("Hermano: An Evening With Christopher Hitchens.")

Christopher Hitchens, Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere (New York & London: Verso, 2000).

Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir (New York & Boston: Twelve, 2010).

It is rare when one has the opportunity to meet a personal hero. I have enjoyed such meetings on several occasions. One of these meetings -- or "encounters," as they say in California -- was with Christopher ("The Hitch") Hitchens. ("Fidel Castro's 'History Will Absolve Me.'")

This encounter took place before Lewinsky scandal fame and controversial reversals of position on C-Span, centering on what he called "Islamofascism," transformed Christopher into an object of villification for the very people who once sang his praises. I am here to sing his praises, to sing of "arms" (any computer keyboard) and the man (generous, funny, sharp, passionate).

The "late" Mr. Hitchens -- the man who arrived twenty minutes late to every auspicious occasion in his life, or so he claimed -- was a "wordsmith" in the true meaning of the term. He cared passionately about the written word. Language's power to move hearts and minds was never very distant from Christopher's thoughts or from the cadences of his speech. ("Shakespeare's Black Prince" and "An Evening With Gore Vidal.")

Our shared masters of the word included Evelyn Waugh, Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene and Gore Vidal. Among Christopher's friends (fortunate man) were Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes -- all of these men have been my teachers, by way of their books, in the use of the written word in our GLORIOUS English language. ("Playing Snookers With Martin Amis" then "Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon" and "John Updike and My Grub Street Blues.")

"The Hitch" displayed the obvious virtues of an Oxford University education (PPE) obtained during the era when this school could claim to be the best in the world (what is it like today?) at training eager young minds: precision in speech and thought, wit as a weapon against powerful and pompous politicians, identification with the poor and powerless, Anglo-American obsession with the rights of conscience and expression of each and every person, learning and scholarship that was lightly worn and made available to others -- like an exquisite meal offered to a guest at Christopher's home. We thank you, Mr. Hitchens, for not skimping on the wine of your genius.

The pleasures and instruction derived from devouring Hitchens' prose are the closest many of us will come to an Oxford tutorial session for which this humble reader is also deeply grateful. I am sad and angry that death has taken one more hero of the pen from the world leaving us with many versions of, say, Bob Menendez in politics and law. ("Is Menendez For Sale?" and "Does Senator Menendez Have Mafia Friends?")

"It was" -- the Salman Rushdie affair that was so similar to my adventures in New Jersey and on-line -- "if I can phrase it like this, [that became] a matter of every thing I hated versus every thing I loved. In the hate column: dictatorship, religion, stupidity, demagogy, censorship, bullying, and intimidation. In the love column: literature, irony, humor, the individual, and the defense of free expression. ..."

Hitch-22, p. 268.

Please see the Preface to Hitchens' collection of essays listed above and "What is it like to be plagiarized?" as well as "How censorship works in America" then "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review."

We laughed and spoke, candidly, about the future and death's thieving tendency to take opportunities from us. I suggested that Christopher should write a political novel focusing on Bill Clinton's Shakesperean contradictions. He said I should write one, too. I promised that I certainly would buy his book.

I will not quote what Christopher said, specifically, by way of a response. We laughed, again, discussed Vidal (before whom we must bow our heads if we are partial to Disraeli-like political novels), then Christopher paused, speaking softly, he said: " ... when I think of someone like that, [Gore Vidal,] ... I don't know ... [then unspoken, but said:] whether I have much to add."

I know, Christopher, even if you did not. Your words will live in the hearts and minds of many readers, like me. Your example -- whether I am in agreement or the opposite -- of courage in debate and fearless struggle for principles of ethical-political life has served me well at difficult moments of comparable struggle against Cuban-American "fascists," who are very similar to the persons you despised and fought against throughout your life. There are always plenty of them -- fascists of every variety -- against whom to take up arms. ("Hypocrisy" then "Irrationalism" and "American Hypocrisy and Luis Posada Carriles.")

I loved you, Christopher, for your determination to see war criminals charged with their crimes; for your insistence on Salman Rushdie's genius and freedom as an artist; for your concern that smaller nations, like Cuba, be treated fairly by being RESPECTED in their self-definitions concerning national identity and philosophy; for your wonderful Englishness and American iconoclasm; for your passionate Bardolatry; for your kindness to me, and for much more.

A few writers become intimate friends who share our lives in crises and at moments of joy. Christopher Hitchens was such a writer for me, as only one of his many and growing number of readers. I will miss him. Abrazo.

"Peacemaking may not need to be termed a blessed or sanctified activity, suffering may be an experience to be recalled with sobriety rather than banished or obliterated in mind, and redemption will begin when the life of all free citizens is enhanced in common by music and letters and philosophy, and the qualities of eloquence and irony, and when it may be fairly said, in no mean city, that when we hear the word 'gun' we reach for our culture."

Unacknowledged Legislation, p. 107.