Isaac Asimov

[The Nitelight]

Ten years after his death, it has been revealed that legendary Science Fiction writer Isaac Asimov died of complications from AIDS, having contracted the disease from a 1983 blood transfusion.


As a fan of the Good Doctor, this came as quite a shock. My first question was this: why am I hearing this now.

The answer, of course, is that there is a new book coming out.


My second question was: Why not then.


We remember the early days of the AIDS epidemic. The fear. The hysteria. The secrecy. No one lived with AIDS. They died from it.

But Doctor Asimov was a man of science.
He could have used his fame to change perceptions.
Instead, he kept it to himself.


Ultimately, I don't think it was the stigma of the disease that kept him silent.
Being a public crusader for the disease would have taken him away from the keyboard.
He was a writer.
And that's what we'll always remember him for.

 

[daedalos]

One wonders how many other people, either unknowingly or silently, died from complications to this disease during the late eighties and early nineties.

Thanks for your post. I have not thought about Asimov for a number of years, but I was a big fan of his science fiction once upon a time. Maybe I need to delve once again into the world of psycho history since it is the 10 year anniversary of his death.

best regards,

daedalos

 

[Pixie]

Oh yes, it has been a while for me too.
I guess it could be the time to read some of those books again.

 

[Merelan]

Okay, I must have missed this revelation. Could you please post a link to the article, or your source. I would like to read it.

 

[The Nitelight]

http://www.locusmag.com

 

[sexy-girl]

i just this week finished reading the whole of the foundation series of books ... i recommend everyone reads the first foundation book especially its mind blowing to think it was written when it was and yet was so forward thinking and his image of the future is still up too date today


i think him contracting aids is very sad that he died that way but i dont believe its anyway linked to his books or his writings and if he wanted to keep that private and just be remembered for the books he wrote rather then the guy that died from aids then he had full rights to do so and i wouldn't criticized him for wishing to do that

 

[sch00lteacher]

*Humpf*. I don't care if he caught aids from his gay lover.

The man was a sci/fi god. I really miss him.

 

[Merelan]

Thank you Nitelight. If that is true, and i am not doubting you, but the source, would indeed have been a good chance to come out and help understand the disease better. But...

Then again, the times were rough, he may have been protecting his family from the flak they would have gotten, no matter how he got the disease.

 

[Czhorat]

Missing the Good Doctor

I was very sad at the news of Dr. Asimov's death, and sad all over again to hear this revelation. The man was prolific as could be, and we are still fortunate to have known him through his many, many books and stories.

He also had a reputation as being a womanizer. It saddens me to think of all the other people he might have infected with this disease. That would be another legacy, and not a positive one.

Have any of you read the very touching eulogy Harlan Ellison wrote for Isaac in the issue of F&SF after he died? I have a copy of it hidden away someplace.. reading it still brings a tear to my eye.

 

[DRxBlue]

How very strange...

i LOVED that guy! He taught me so much about science, and fiction too.

i think you're right in saying that he spent his last days most wisely doing what he loved, and what we loved him for.

He was a good teacher, scientist, writer, editor, humorist. A good man.

 

[Myrrdin]

........Isaac Asimov died of complications.......

And I always thought it was life that was complicated.....

 

[Ishmael]

In memorium to Issac

Perhaps he was as precient about his own death as he was about so many other things in life.

Perhaps he understood that to become a spokesman for a disease that is claiming your life is to condemn yourself to being remembered for how you died, not how you lived.

I'm glad that he refrained from becoming a "poster child" for the disease.

Ishmael