Chinua Achebe and various ways of learning.

I'd already decided to wait for the probable obituary in The Economist before noting the death of Chinua Achebe, but then my resolve to tarry was further strengthened when a regular reader pointed out that I far more quickly lamented Herbert Streicher's passing while (seemingly) ignoring Achebe's.

Well, of course; in days of yore, Harry Reems' cinematic adventures were (shall we say) more personally influential than Achebe's writing. In a home where certain forms of instruction were lacking, one chose to learn the basics of language first, before graduating to modes of higher expression.

Chinua Achebe (The Economist)

 ... A small man with an impish smile under his floppy berets, he teased and spoke in riddles, in part to mask a growing rage. Then, in his mid-40s, he let rip, with an essay about Conrad in the Massachusetts Review that shocked American academics. “The real question”, he wrote, “is the dehumanisation of Africa and Africans which [an] age-long attitude has fostered and continues to foster in the world.”

Herbert Streicher has died. Stage name: Harry Reems.

“Nobody under 50 even knows who I am now. Unless you’re a porno historian, and then you’re really sick.”

“I’m the thread to tell the story of social change in America.”

-- Harry Reems, quoted in 2005 (see "The Afterlife of a Porn Star," by Dave Itzkoff)

It isn't everyday that a Utah real estate agent's death merits national headlines: Harry Reems dies at 65; porn actor starred in 'Deep Throat' (Los Angeles Times)