http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/ Life, people, and Kultur Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:43:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-164 Paul Moor Sat, 11 Aug 2007 10:27:07 +0000 http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/#comment-164 Thank YOU, dear old friend (ever since our shared Texan teens in El Paso about 100 years ago, give or take a decade or two). If you read German (you don't, do you?) I'd proudly mail you a copy of my second book (which has a three-part title the Rowohlt Verlag found prudent in view of the explosive connotation the word "euthanasia" - simply Greek for "good death" - acquired due to its philological perversion here in Germany during Hitler's "1000-year" Reich (which of course actually lasted 988 years less than that): "Die Freiheit zum Tode - Ein Plädoyer für das Recht auf menschenwürdiges Sterben - Euthanasie und Ethik" (www.amazon.com/ offers 15 copies still available). I wrote it in English, under contract to Atheneum, but when I finished dealing with that hot potato NO Anglophone publisher would touch it. Hermann Gieselbusch, my 1973 Rowohlt editor (who's remained a valued personal friend), told me that if my manuscript had come from a German he probably would have rejected it: "A foreigner had to break this taboo in Germany." I do especially wish you could read it, Ben, since it focusses on the last two months in the life of my older sister Mary Lou, and you long knew not only her but also the father-daughter team of physicians, George & Jeanne Turner, who treated her after her diagnosis of cancer of the cecum. Along with this note I send undiminished love to you and all of yours, enviably rusticating there in that heavenly New Mexico mountain landscape with the descriptive name taken from the turbulent river that runs through it: "Ruidoso" = Spanish for just plain flat-out noisy. Thank YOU, dear old friend (ever since our shared Texan teens in El Paso about 100 years ago, give or take a decade or two). If you read German (you don’t, do you?) I’d proudly mail you a copy of my second book (which has a three-part title the Rowohlt Verlag found prudent in view of the explosive connotation the word “euthanasia” – simply Greek for “good death” – acquired due to its philological perversion here in Germany during Hitler’s “1000-year” Reich (which of course actually lasted 988 years less than that): “Die Freiheit zum Tode – Ein Plädoyer für das Recht auf menschenwürdiges Sterben – Euthanasie und Ethik” (www.amazon.com/ offers 15 copies still available). I wrote it in English, under contract to Atheneum, but when I finished dealing with that hot potato NO Anglophone publisher would touch it. Hermann Gieselbusch, my 1973 Rowohlt editor (who’s remained a valued personal friend), told me that if my manuscript had come from a German he probably would have rejected it: “A foreigner had to break this taboo in Germany.” I do especially wish you could read it, Ben, since it focusses on the last two months in the life of my older sister Mary Lou, and you long knew not only her but also the father-daughter team of physicians, George & Jeanne Turner, who treated her after her diagnosis of cancer of the cecum. Along with this note I send undiminished love to you and all of yours, enviably rusticating there in that heavenly New Mexico mountain landscape with the descriptive name taken from the turbulent river that runs through it: “Ruidoso” = Spanish for just plain flat-out noisy.

]]> http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-163 Ben Mason Fri, 10 Aug 2007 12:23:28 +0000 http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/#comment-163 Paul, This is a really great essay. Thank you! Ben Paul, This is a really great essay. Thank you! Ben

]]> http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Christine Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:08:39 +0000 http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/#comment-142 I can only join Perry here. As I was looking in dayly I started to miss your posts as well. Please carry on with whatever comes your way, but especially down the memory lane ... I/we are looking forward to it. I can only join Perry here. As I was looking in dayly I started to miss your posts as well. Please carry on with whatever comes your way, but especially down the memory lane … I/we are looking forward to it.

]]> http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-141 Paul Moor Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:35:30 +0000 http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/#comment-141 Bless yo sweet Dixie heart, honey-pot. Such a reaction makes me feel encouraged to go on. Bless yo sweet Dixie heart, honey-pot. Such a reaction makes me feel encouraged to go on.

]]> http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/comment-page-1/#comment-140 Perry Nelson Mon, 23 Jul 2007 23:21:21 +0000 http://www.paul-moor.com/2007/07/23/noel-martin-and-the-right-to-die/#comment-140 It's good to see you return to posting here, even though the topic is not as bright and cheery as it might be. Your posts have been missed. I look forward to reading your recollections of Dietrich. It’s good to see you return to posting here, even though the topic is not as bright and cheery as it might be. Your posts have been missed. I look forward to reading your recollections of Dietrich.

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