Christopher Hitchens Advice for Writers
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Every day, the New York Times carries a motto in a box on its front page. "All the News That's Fit to Print," it says. It's been saying it for decades, day in and day out. I imagine most readers of the canonical sheet have long ceased to notice this bannered and flaunted symbol of its mental furniture. I myself check every day to make sure that the bright, smug, pompous, idiotic claim is still there. Then I check to make sure that it still irritates me. If I can still exclaim, under my breath, why do they insult me and what do they take me for and what the hell is it supposed to mean unless it's as obviously complacent and conceited and censorious as it seems to be, then at least I know I still have a pulse. You may wish to choose a more rigorous mental workout but I credit this daily infusion of annoyance with extending my lifespan.
"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you."
- Christopher Hitchens
English-born author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the Hoover Institution in September 2008
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
Intelligence is so attractive. Every "Hitch" video I watch I'm left wanting to hear more.
I'll say
My small gift back to Hitchens is to try and get as many people as I can to read or watch his material - in that sense I feel I'm helping him to live on. I would think a lot of admirers of his work feel the same.
And here I am thinking I'm the only one.
Write Drunk....Edit Sober. Ernest Hemingway.
Jazzkeyboardist1 What the fuck are you talking about and what does that have to do with writing?
I miss Christopher Hitchens. Yet, his books are with us, forever. And we have these videos on You Tube. Thanks for this upload.
you'd love me then
I'd give my right arm to be able to write like Christopher Hitchens.
Danny Smith are you left handed? :D
Alex D I'd give my right foot to play like Messi :-)
+Danny Smith I would give my dick to be a pornstar.
are you left handed?
Well Hitchens was right handed, so if you gave your right arm you couldn't write like Hitchens...
Cheers! to one of humanity's greatest polymaths, may his mellifluous voice continue to educate the masses of the ignoramus until the end of human extinction, truly and sorely miss this amazing man, I've seen all Hitchen's work, through his books, here & in Agatan Foundation, Excellent!!
Such an intellectual giant. Love the quote about the NYT in the description!
Me too... I have to write. I'm not good. I've just started for real to write. But have have to. I understand the feeling he is talking about.
Hitch had a great sense of humor!
Hitchens and Stephen Fry were pals and so, apparently were Hitchens and Clive James. Makes sense. It would've been great to join them for lunch/dinner and a few drinks. My wit and eloquence, of course, would have dominated such get-togethers to which I'm going to add a very necessary: "I wish".
how I wish he was still here!!!
The GOAT. I wish he was here to comment on the shit show going on right now. I would give a nut to hear his opinion💯
High praise! Or would that require two nuts sacrificed?
What a great quote inside description!!!
Hitch is the man.
strange youtube phenomena: have you ever watched a vid then went to write a comment just to find ghost comments you wrote at some previous occasion that you forgot all about?
@needicecream: well that's not really evidence of anything. James Patterson regularly makes the bestseller list, but his books are quite awful.
That said, Christopher Hitchens was one of the best journalists of our time.
Lavache Beadsman Salman Rushdie is the same . Awful prose and nothing of any interest but hits great heights .
I agree, I'd rather not risk health, choose sober and be ready to face disappointment, miss you Mr. Hitchens
Had a pleasant day at work lady coworker said thank u kindly sir and asked if my tattoos hurt
@goodvibesallround I100% agree! But in todays technological world where the majority of "writing" is actually typing onto a computer screen....it is very important to not hit "send" while drunk. Hemingway didn't have to worry about that.
Makes you think when you realise he had stage 4 esophageal cancer at this point but was unaware.
It makes me feel sad inside too, when I watch his late videos. From the Hitch-22 tour and onwards.
+zerr0ww Oddly enough he does talk about death quite often. I doubt he was completely unaware of what his lifestyle choices would do to him.
yes absolutely. a great mind and thinker lost, though I think he blew his status about Iraq and these other new century wars. he contradicts himself when he talks of the need for Iraq and then you look back at his stance over Vietnam etc. but utterly formidable, like Vidal?
While I agree his continued support for Iraq was a blunder I don't view it as a contradiction with his stance on Vietnam because of the difference between the Viet Cong and the threat of Islamic terrorism.
Have you read about the relationship Vidal and Hitch had? If not then you might find it quite interesting to look into. Hitch used to idealise Vidal and Vidal say Hitch as his successor at one point until they had an enormous falling.
drew bridge With all due respect I don't think he was wrong about Iraq. it was the right thing to root out Saddam and Baathism. They'd still be there now if not for the invasion. That said, the mistakes and incompetent actions have neen way too numerous.
The brilliant thing about this video is,I drink & write short little snip-its of how I feel at a moment.For him to hit on that subject is pretty ironic,writing while drunk works sometimes (best during rough drafts) but don't let it be your master.
RIP.
Girl asked if my tattoos hurt. I shouldve said yes, but i like the pain. Lol.
Here's the advice , and i've never written a whole piece of work . You will instinctively know if your good or bad . Don't listen to anybody but your english teacher . Don't depend on success write because you love it . Fronz
Booze trap 😄. Love it!!!
Party on. Hitch
One: if I could find things to say, would I have a better bet of being a writer? (I guess that kind of answers itself doesn't it)
Two: Upon the thought of never writing or not being a writer I felt hopeless. I felt like if I couldn't be a writer then there'd be no point to living.
Apathy is a strange romance I guess.
I feel the same. Thanks for sharing. Now where's the alcohol?
While you are looking down...pick up a pebble, examine it and start writing about it. Keep that pebble in your pocket. It is a friend you will learn a lot from.
@helperthrope But he's slick, can't you read his name?? He knows everything and one of the greatest thinking minds this world has seen knows nothing. RIP Hitch
Did Hitchens ever write short stories or novels?
No, he was a journalist and critic at heart, an essayist, and though he read many novels, he never wrote one.
From what I remember he wished he had the skills for fiction or poetry but believed he did not
@@JohnWilliamShatner Correct. And I can't think of anything more vulgar than putting words in the Hitch's mouth especially post-mortem, but I always felt he viewed prose as a superior form of expression to fiction.
Where is this from? I'd love to see the full video.
Assess aggressive leaf immediate factor naturally settlement dry once variation gift
Marijuana is the alcoholic mode of repression remover , without the imbalanced part.
Fronz
I've been sober for nearly 6 months and I can't wait to get back to it! I wonder how it will affect my writing. Wait, is it affect or effect, I forget.
Please can you post which lecture this has been taken? Thanks
It's from The Hay Festival
@samslick90
He is just being provocative. But going quite far in doing so, I have to agree. But if someone is gloating over people dying, why should you? Dont you have a mind of your own? And I liked what he said in Hitchslap 21 about the weakness of the church needing mass rallies.
do you think you're in love with the thought of being a writer than the actual process of writing?
What genre of books do you like reading? Maybe you could start off with that.
If you haven't got anything but you still want to write, just write anything! Even if its mumbo jumbo crap atleast you're still doing something - the words will come eventually.
Great advice! Thanks!
It's still the writer telling a story. The story comes from the writer's pen, mouth, whether it's about the writer's self or not.
@borgking001
His book, god is not great, was on the new York times best sellers list for weeks.
@moroney1 Forgive the intrusion, since I am not part of your dialogue with samslick. I just happen to know that drinking and smoking tend to increase one's chance of contracting esophogeal cancer, which, sadly, got Hitch. But that doesn't necessarily imply cause. A good friend of mine died of the same disease but rarely drank or smoked.
Hitchens' father died of the very same thing.
Good advice it seems.
What the Dirk Bogarde reference about?
It’s a reference to the 1963 drama “The Servant” where an English aristocrat hires a servant (played by Dirk Bogarde) to manage his property, but the servant soon starts causing unrest and chaos around the house. And even after the aristocrat kicks out the servant, the mental toll the servant took on the aristocrat remains huge. Hitchens is saying that even though alcohol was the writer’s servant, it was an unruly, and at times destructive servant to him. Hope this answer was worth a 3 year wait.
I initially thought he said “Derek Boogaard” and just meant that alcohol was a 6’7” enforcer who beat the snot out of the writer.
Yout not the only one. Remember that.
The irony of Hitchens talking about the dangers of drinking when he was a notorious chain smoker when writing. He is missed dearly
@Murphy1844 Good luck then Murphy. Write your damn heart out.
Then who was it? Because i'm 95% sure it was Hemingway.
Sorely missed.
what does that mean really? what if someone doesn't feel the need to do anything? but the only thing i can do is write...but then again i sometimes just feel hopeless and cant think of anything to write...i dont know
@goodvibesallround haha touche.
Evidently.
Booze became Hitchens’ master, sadly.
@mjfraser04 Jonathan Franzen found a solution to this......plug your ethernet port with super glue and disable your wi-fi.
Christopher Hitchens was intelligent enough to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court! Chief Justice Christopher Hitchens.
producer grow increase rpmxgl build direct muslim talk.
@aguteempasil I'm an agnostic, not an atheist, so I disagree with him, but this man is inspiring. Except on political issues.
Hitchens was a bit like Bukowski
if you can't think of anything to write about then you have nothing to say, so your probably not going to be a writer. on the other hand write about your hopelessness and seek a professional
Ok. Now we're getting somewhere. I want to read some of your material.
therapist or writer? :)
I haven't read any of his material, but he certainly sounds like therapist.
God is great...
_[BOOM!]_
All the time?
Should raise your standards if doing nothing constitutes "great"
You left off the "not".
NOT
hmm... I guess you really are a writer. I always thought I would be a writer, but it seems the illusion has passed. Now I have nothing in my life. Here's to mediocrity and living in a cube your life.
I appreciate your morbid honesty.
@helperthrope
Spoken like a true Hitchtard. Go watch some WWF, play some Grand Theft Auto or read TMZ.
seek a professional
There you are again. What's the matter?
Drink so much that you contract esophageal cancer.
Sound advice from one of the greatest minds of our time. -
@helperthrope
Spoken like a true Hitchtard.
Go watch some UFC or a Michael Moore film or join the 9/11 truthers
My advice to young writers is to write stuff people want to read, not boring shit like Hitchens does
I imagine you're the sort to describe it as boring because you're unable to process most of what he's saying.
How many bestsellers you written then?