What Can You Say About a 72-Year Old Hack That Died?

Or
Death Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry
(More from Monty)
Erich Segal, the author of the novel that launched a thousand TV-movies, has died of a heart attack related to Parkinson’s disease at the age of 72. Segal, a Yale classics professor, wrote the sentimental and clichéd Love Story, about a foul-mouthed working class girl and the upper class twit she falls in love with at Harvard before contracting rickets or something and dying. The novel, boasting lines like “That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.” and “Jenny, for Christ’s sake, how can I read John Stuart Mill when every single second I’m dying to make love to you?,” spent more than a year on The New York Times best-seller list, then was one of the first modern-day blockbusters, grossing nearly $200 million. Keep in mind, this was a nation that was about to re-elect Richard Nixon, so this period was not one of the high points in American critical thinking. The novel was nominated for consideration for a National Book Award, but was withdrawn when the fiction jury threatened to resign en masse in protest. Oliver, the upper class twit, was loosely based on Tommy Lee Jones with the addition of his roommate Al Gore’s fractious relationship with his father. Much like JD Salinger, Segal later wrote a bunch of other stuff that was even worse and you’ve never heard of it.