Althouse: "At home at one of the raucous, joyous, impromptu eight-hour dinners we often found ourselves hosting..."

August 25, 2012

"At home at one of the raucous, joyous, impromptu eight-hour dinners we often found ourselves hosting..."

"... where the table was so crammed with ambassadors, hacks, political dissidents, college students and children that elbows were colliding and it was hard to find the space to put down a glass of wine, my husband would rise to give a toast that could go on for a stirring, spellbinding, hysterically funny 20 minutes of poetry and limerick reciting, a call to arms for a cause, and jokes. 'How good it is to be us,' he would say in his perfect voice."

Writes Carol Blue, the widow of Christopher Hitchens.

19 comments:

edutcher said...: He enjoyed his life.

The way he expressed it sounds a bit smug, but is it any different than Tiny Tim's, "God bless us, every one"?; 8/25/12, 9:06 AM
Darcy said...: "How good it is to be us."

I am increasingly aware of the use of the word "good".

"She's a good person." "Life is good." "Be good." "Do good."

Bleh.

I am not good. I am blessed, though. Hitch was surely blessed as well, in my opinion, though I would guess he wouldn't sign on to that observation.

Wow. What a full, curious, interesting life he apparently lived. His presence through various media made me smile and reading about him still does.; 8/25/12, 9:18 AM
ricpic said...: "How good it is to be us."

I'd say how exhausting it was to be them.; 8/25/12, 9:22 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Chris was one of those guys you just KNEW would be the perfect companion for a leisurely dive-bar pub-crawl...ALWAYS fantasized about getting him down to New Orleans to do so--would have been the perfect environment..; 8/25/12, 9:30 AM
chickelit said...: What's sad is that there is no Hitch successor in sight. Such British conviviality is moribund. It's all dour and myopic now. Except for Prince Harry.; 8/25/12, 9:54 AM
wyo sis said...: ricpic,

My thoughts exactly.
It must be an introvert/extrovert thing.; 8/25/12, 10:06 AM
dreams said...: I can remember seeing Hitchens years ago on TV when he was a total flaming liberal but over time he became more conservative at least on some issues such as the Iraq war. The only well known liberal I can think of who was ever open-minded enough to grow beyond his typical knee-jerk liberal views.
Its understandable that an open-minded man became more conservative as he aged because most people do as they live and learn.; 8/25/12, 10:13 AM
Chef Mojo said...: I had the pleasure of hanging out with him in Charlottesville the last time he lectured at Monticello. What a night for listening!; 8/25/12, 10:28 AM
Wince said...: "Fuck you...fuck you."; 8/25/12, 10:46 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I used to go to parties like that, and yes, they were waaay better than the joyless wannbe-sex slogs that most people consider "fun."

Of course I met him - a highlight of my life, partially, because I got to "save" him from a crowd - and I miss his wit, something awful.

Seeing him in a real debate was always great, too. (Everyone here take notice - it's not like talking to Garage Mahal,...) The way he destroyed arguments was masterly, so, even when looking for them on YouTube, it's tough to find someone up to the task of going toe-to-toe with him.

A Todd Aiken he was not,...; 8/25/12, 11:08 AM
David said...: Nasty comments from contemptible idiots at the Telegraph.; 8/25/12, 11:31 AM
dreams said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/25/12, 12:31 PM
dreams said...: "Fuck you...fuck you."

I saw that shortly after it happened and Hitchens was right on. I came to like him more and more in his later years.; 8/25/12, 12:32 PM
LoafingOaf said...: "...but over time he became more conservative at least on some issues such as the Iraq war."

Invading Iraq was not a conservative policy.; 8/25/12, 12:57 PM
jr565 said...: Loafing Oaf wrote:
"...but over time he became more conservative at least on some issues such as the Iraq war."

Invading Iraq was not a conservative policy.

Well in truth it was a bipartisan policy. HOwever, due to the democrats turning the war into the most disingenuous partisan attack it became a "neocon" war. And Bush was a conservative, and carried out the war, therefore it was a conservative war to democrats/liberals.; 8/25/12, 4:50 PM
Anonymous said...: This is some of my favorite Hitch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3766TOukRo

It was cathartic to see the representatives of the Church confronted directly with what needed to be said.

My mom's second husband had a similar joie de vivre. It takes a long time before it starts to fade in the house.; 8/25/12, 4:56 PM
William said...: He was the kind of guy who made dissipation look cool. If you add up the debits and credits of heavy drinking and chain smoking, you're not making a good bargain with fate. If his live was all that enjoyable, he would not have taken the express track to an early grve. He handled his vices with grace and style, but it was, in the end, an artful surrender to his demons.; 8/25/12, 6:30 PM
XRay said...: "an artful surrender to his demons."

And should we all do as well as he.; 8/25/12, 9:41 PM
Gene said...: "eight hour dinners?"

No wonder he got the Iraq war wrong. He was too busy adding spices of mass destruction to a dinner for a diplomat.; 8/26/12, 7:14 PM