Thomas M. Disch, 1940-2008
The major papers haven't taken notice yet [update: the Times did later in the day, as did Entertainment Weekly], but the web world has been noting over the past day that Thomas M. Disch, critic, poet, and major science fiction writer, died on Friday, apparently by his own hand. You can read appreciations (with extensive comments in many cases) from Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Ellen Datlow, Scott Edelman, and GalleyCat. Our own Jeff VanderMeer, before going into hibernation for a bit to focus on writing his next novel, wrote this on his own blog:
This is really sad, sad news about a very talented individual–an icon of the New Wave.
…and having thought about it some more and being both sad about this and somewhat appalled at the coverage in certain quarters dwelling on Disch’s cantankerous nature, a few additional observations.
Yes, he could be a pain in the ass. Yes, he was paranoid at times. So what? Who among us hasn’t been either of those things at various times in our lives? But he always spoke his mind, he was a true original, and I never read a novel by him that I didn’t think was deeply felt and fiercely intelligent. That includes his last, from Tachyon, out this month, which is at times by its nature self-indulgent, but has his trademark qualities: incisive wit, absurdist dark humor, stark intellectual curiosity. These are qualities you find in too few modern novels.
Disch had lost his partner of three decades, was having trouble with his apartment, and I guess it was just ultimately too much for him. Look, being a writer isn’t as tough as some jobs, but it can be lonely, it can be the equivalent of working without a safety net, and it has the ability to take a lot out of a person. On top of the blows life can deal to you.
I’m very sad at this moment, in part on a personal level and in part knowing how many of my close friends were friends of his and thus are mourning his loss right now. I never spoke to Disch–I just read his books, read his blog, and admired him for the very quality a few others didn’t like: he was himself. Sometimes I think we want writers to be sanitized, polite, get-with-the-program clones of each other in terms of their personalities. There was never any danger of that with Disch.
I didn’t actually know him in a personal sense, as I’ve said, but I already miss him very much. And I hope wherever he is now he’s at peace.
We also asked his longtime friend Michael Moorcock for a remembrance:
Tom and I had been friends since the mid-60s. He became a stalwart of New Worlds when we published his novels Echo Round His Bones and Camp Concentration, and many classic short stories, including The Squirrel Cage and 334. Tom's sense of humour was enormous and he was the very best company. He was witty, extremely intelligent and courteous. He was especially generous with his time to younger writers. My wife Linda says she had never laughed as much as when she was in Tom's company. His long, stable relationship with his partner ended with Charlie's painful death in 2005 which was followed by a number of misfortunes, yet he kept producing poetry, much of which he published on his own blog. He had periods of depression but his friends remember how infectiously jolly he could be only days before the end. He gave the world a great deal and his generosity wasn't always reciprocated by the world around him.
I knew Disch almost entirely as a critic--back when I first started taking notice of bylines his sharp and often unsparing reviews in The Nation, often of books and other art far from those with which he had made his reputation, made his name stick in my mind. (That and his author photo above--I didn't know any book reviewers looked like that!) He wrote on anything that found his passion, which led to a long list of works that includes these highlights, along with countless stories and reviews:
- The Genocides (novel, 1965)
- Echo Round His Bones (novel, 1967)
- Camp Concentration (novel, 1968--his most-cited classic)
- Fun with Your New Head (stories, 1968)
- 334 (novel, 1972)
- On Wings of Song (novel, 1979)
- The Brave Little Toaster (children's novella, yes, later adapted by Disney, 1980)
- Neighboring Lives (novel, 1981--a historical epic about Thomas Carlyle and friends, written with his partner, Charles Naylor)
- The Businessman: A Tale of Terror (novel, 1984--the first in his series of horror novels)
- Yes, Let's: New and Selected Poems (poetry, 1989)
- The M.D.: A Horror Story (novel, 1991--a bestseller)
- The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters (criticism, 1994)
- The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World (Hugo-winning criticism, 1998)
- The Word of God (novel, 2008)
- The Wall of America (stories, coming in October 2008)
--Tom
Paul A'Barge on July 08, 2008 at 07:38 AM
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/library/author.pperl?authorid=7115 is more on the author.