Christopher Hitchens’ Public Dying

Toward a Secular-Humanist Ars Moriendi

Bibliographic Data

ID13629867
AuthorsMichael J Brennan (0000-0002-0637-9387, Liverpool Hope University, corresponding author), Michael Brennan (0000-0002-5646-028X, Liverpool Hope University)
Year2015
Volume77
Issue2
Pages99-132
Publication date2015-11-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0030222815606453
PMID29676687
OpenAlexW2464789373
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited64

This article explores the public dying of journalist, writer, provocateur, public intellectual, and renowned atheist, Christopher Hitchens. It does so primarily through an analysis of television interviews given by Hitchens following his diagnosis with esophageal cancer in June 2010. Four key themes are identified as emerging from analysis of the interviews: (a) Hitchens' explicit sense of mission in challenging myths and superstitions surrounding cancer, dying, and death; (b) the personal experience of terminal illness and dying and the particular way (or style of dying) by which it is approached; (c) issues of regret and a life well lived; and (d) questions surrounding religion, the afterlife, and possibility of deathbed conversion. In light of the claim that ours is a culture in search of an ars moriendi, the article examines what we can learn from Hitchens' auto/pathographic interviews (and writings) and the extent to which this rational-humanist, atheistic, and stoical style of dying provides a useable "template" for others nearing the end of life

Afterlife · Art · Humanism · Literature · Media studies · Mythology · Political science · Regret · Sociology · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History · Law · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices

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