I knew him by his pseudonym, Lethe Bashar, but his real name was Chris. In the middle of him editing my short story The Mercy Troupers for Escape into Life, I realized his Twitter name had changed to Chris Al-Aswad.
“Who’s Chris?” I asked.
“That’s my real name,” he said.
Lethe Bashar was the author of Novel of Life and Sentimental Education: Essays in Art. A quick search on him and hundreds of pages testify to his prolific body of work and the number of people who read it.
I said, “So that’s what happens when a pen name becomes you.”
Chris wrote obsessively about art. He was gifted in showcasing artists, painters, writers, and thinkers on Escape Into Life. He brought my story to life through a handful of 140 character messages and short emails.
I didn’t realize our friendship would also be so brief. Chris’s obituary is in the Chicago Sun-Times. In his last blog post he writes about Sentimental Education: Essays in Art,
“I hope these essays carry a sense of experimental wonder to whomever reads them; also a love of beautiful forms, and a sadness toward self-destruction.”
Thank you, Chris, for being a vital part of my journey. Your work was a gift to so many.
image: Chris’s Twitter avatar, attributed to Courbet.