Obituaries

Today, when I read the magnificent obituary of Daniel Bell published on the New York Times, it felt spooky. First, because it is extremely good and it was published right after his death. Who is able to write such a piece in such a short piece of time, I wondered.

The spookiness reached its summit when I realized that the author, Michael T. Kaufman, passed away more than a year ago, according to his own obituary (I just hope that he did not write it in advance).

The obituary of D. Bell was completed by a (living) reporter and published immediately.

Then I recalled visiting HZ in his office, it was the late 1990's. He looked quite busy, hard-worker as he likes it. - What are you doing? - I am writing the obituary of John Paul II. - Did he die? - Not yet, but eventually he will.

The obituary remained in his hard-disc until April 2010. Then it was published on time.

Foto: Daniel Bell in Milano (1955)