Hong Kong Blog

I had fully intended for this blog entry to highlight events from the last two/three weeks and it is instead with great, great sadness that I write this tribute to Robert Jordan, my childhood hero, on the day of his passing.

I began reading his first book “The Eye of the World” almost six years ago to this day on Yom Kippur 2001. Since then, like thousands of others, he has touched my life with his writing, wit, and wisdom and it is with absolute certainty that I can say I would not be who I am, nor where I am if it weren’t for his works. I do not regret a single second of the hundreds of hours I spent reading The Wheel of Time series, nor the equally large amount of time discussing it. There are no words I can use that will adequately describe the respect I have for him, both for his writing and indeed his bravery in his struggle against amyloidosis, a rare blood disease which he was diagnosed with 12 months ago and which he eventually succumbed to.

Whether it was down to the time in my life or a special affinity to his narrative style Robert Jordan’s reached me on a very personal level. From a stylistic point of view I believe his ability to descriptively bring his world to life through detailed nuance remains unparalleled, as does his skill at manipulating a plethora of plots that long ago would have overwhelmed most writers. I laughed and cried when his characters did and he has my most sincere thanks for brining us his tale. Part of my A-Level English coursework was an analysis of his works and it was through a member of www.wotmania.com – one of the many Wheel of Time fansites that I heard about The University of Kent and subsequently ended up here in Hong Kong.

I don’t expect the majority of the reader’s of this blog to understand how a writer can have this effect on someone and that’s fine; it is for me as much as anyone else that I write this, and I hope wherever you are Mr. Jordan that it is praise enough you have touched me so. I hope the “army of writers” you prepared for this eventuality (Link) can do justice to your work, which was just one volume from completition.

My deepest, most sincere condolences to all family and friends, and my deepest gratitude once again Mr Jordan to all you have given me. You were, without doubt, my hero.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 7:41 pm and is filed under Off-Topic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.