It occurs to me that there should absolutely be some Web site out there collecting remembrances of this great man, much the way McSweeney’s did for David Foster Wallace. (Maybe there is; if so, let us know.) Tragic, yes, to be saying goodbye again so soon, and at this particularly charged point in time, to another great writer, and this time to one so emblematic of Chicago. But Terkel’s was the gold standard for a full life, lived well. He’ll leave a stunning legacy, and if there’s a sting in the fact that we lost him on the eve of a historic election, there’s also the hope that, going forward, we really will be entering a new American era —one in which Studs Terkel’s massive contribution to this country’s literature and history will be read and respected in a new context.

It’s interesting to note that he published his first best-selling book, Division Street: America, at age 55, which brings to mind this recent article about different kinds of creativity.

He gave genuine voice to working Americans long before plumbers became useful politicking devices. He loved his wife enormously. He faced death, it seems, with no illusions, with little fear. The epitaph he suggested for himself? “‘Curiosity did not kill this cat.” Gotta love all that.

A bit of the coverage:

Trib

Sun-Times

NYT

Times Online