Friday, October 31, 2008
Studs Terkel Will Not Be Undone (4:59 pm)
In These Times lost a long-time supporter, frequent contributor and dear friend today, when oral historian, radio DJ, stage and screen actor, Chicago Icon, and socialist raconteur Studs Terkel died at age 96. Strangely enough, I’ve been reading his oral history of the Great Depression, Hard Times, which—along with Division Street, The Good War, Race, and Working, among many others—will certainly remain a classic of literary American history.
The Trib has a nice obituary here.
A little more than a year ago, Laura S. Washington interviewed him for us about what he said at the time would be his last book, the memoir Touch and Go. (Typically, though, Studs has a new book coming out in November.) I think my favorite piece that he wrote for us during my tenure here was this one, although I also love this excerpt from his book, Hope Dies Last.
That last title really sums up the work of Studs, who dreamed of—and worked toward—a more just, humane, and equitable future for this country. (As well as a Cubs’ World Series, but this year, those bastards once again let both of us down.)
If you have a pair of red socks, put ‘em on tonight. And it seems fitting that I should end this tribute with the ending that David Moberg chose for his profile of Studs on his 90th birthday a couple years back:
Coming away from his book on death, Terkel says that he was awed by the “complexity” of humanity. The interview process itself is fraught with complexity as well. In capturing a record of his subjects’ lives and thoughts, Terkel also preserves something of himself. Rather than give his own assessment of mortality, he rushed upstairs, where stacks of books surround his bed, to find a volume of poems by Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska. He read “Hatred” and then what he saw as its counterpoint, “On Death, Without Exaggeration.” It ends on a note affirming what Terkel embraces as “the permanence of life,” which continues to animate his career an an oral historian: “In vain it tugs at the knob / of the invisible door. / As far as you’ve come / can’t be undone.”
I’ve admired Studs and his works since I was 14, when I read, Working. Stud’s influenced my politics and beliefs about life in general and my interest in the ‘ordinary person’ in particular. These beliefs have since trickled down to my, now grown, sons…one who writes and plays counterculture music based on dissent and the voice of ‘ordinary’ folks. I attribute some of this to Studs and his beliefs. Studs will be terribly missed, yet never forgotten in mind, heart and spirit. Yes, I put my pair of red socks on tonight, will continue to cheer the Cubs on, and I raise my martini to Studs tonight…You will be missed my friend, though never forgotten…Cheers!
posted by Debbie on 10-31-08 at 11:53 PM