"My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a 'race' life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist"
About this Quote
The “race” is doing double duty. It’s an almost comic metaphor - as if existence were a sporting event with neat lanes and a finish line - but the scare quotes expose his contempt for the very consolation metaphors we reach for. He doesn’t believe life is a race; he’s noting how, in grief, it suddenly feels like one anyway, with standings and grim arithmetic. “He was 79. I am 61.” Two short sentences, ledger-like, turning mourning into actuarial math. The subtext is panic disciplined into style: he’s watching the margin between generations collapse.
Calling himself a “finalist” is where the Hitchens irony bites. It’s a word usually reserved for prizes, applause, advancement. Here it’s a promotion nobody wants, bestowed instantly and without consent. In a single pivot, he captures how death rearranges identity: you don’t just lose a parent; you inherit proximity to the end. Contextually, it reads like the prelude to his later cancer writing - the man who sparred with pieties now discovering the most unsentimental argument of all: time.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mortality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hitchens, Christopher. (2026, January 17). My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a 'race' life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-father-had-died-and-very-swiftly-too-of-cancer-67181/
Chicago Style
Hitchens, Christopher. "My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a 'race' life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-father-had-died-and-very-swiftly-too-of-cancer-67181/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a 'race' life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-father-had-died-and-very-swiftly-too-of-cancer-67181/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
