Christopher is one of nature’s rebels. By which I mean that he has no automatic respect for anybody or anything. The rebel is in fact a very rare type. This is the way to spot a rebel: they give no deference or even civility to their supposed superiors (that goes without saying); they also give no deference or even civility to their demonstrable inferiors.
Christopher’s everyday manners are beautiful (and wholly democratic); of course they are – because he knows that in manners begins morality. But each case is dealt with exclusively on its merits. This is the rebel’s way.In debate, no matter what the motion, I would back him against Cicero, against Demosthenes.
My friendship with the Hitch has always been perfectly cloudless. It is a love whose month is ever May.
Martin Amis
(Picture: Christopher Hitchens, James Fenton, Martin Amis)
