Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Was reading the papers at work this morning & one of them (USA Today, I believe) mention that Isaac Asimov's posthumous autobiography will soon be published, & that in it, he reveals (revealed) that he suffered from AIDS when he died in 1992 , & that he'd contracted it via a blood transfusion in the early 80s.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
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Registered: Mar 1999
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Not exactly new news (the contents of the book were known...at least several months ago, and discussed by a few people), but interesting due to how little discussion it seems to be generating. The optimist in me would like to believe that's because nobody cares, and people realize that dead is dead, and ascribe no particular importance to how one got that way.
But I suspect the majority of fans are simply horrified that a "good person" could get AIDS.
Also, I'm cynical about this paper I'm not writing. I guess that could be coloring my perceptions.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
My interest is borne simply out of curiosity. I can't remember what the official cause of death was (heart attack, "natural causes," etc.) & I'm wondering if there were AIDS-related complications that were suppressed due to Asimov's wishes. The decade-long hold on the publishing of his autobiography intrigues me as well.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Well, Asimov published several during his lifetime. And I get the impression that this is less an autobiography than a collection of essays with an autobiographical flavor.
I believe his official cause of death was congenital heart failure, which was probably true, more or less.
Considering the paranoia surrounding AIDS at the time, especially when he was apparently infected, I am not surprised that there would be a great deal of pressure to keep it a secret.
Registered: Mar 1999
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