'Without pain': Author Iain Banks passed away yesterday morning
Best-selling
author Iain Banks lost his battle with cancer yesterday – weeks after
marrying his partner and just days before the publication of his final
novel.
The 59-year-old, who
wrote The Wasp Factory, stunned his many fans in April when he revealed
he was suffering from gall bladder cancer and that he was ‘unlikely’ to
survive longer than a year.
With
typical dark humour he said he was ‘officially very poorly’ and
revealed he had asked his long-term partner Adele Hartley, 42, an
author and horror film curator, if she would ‘do me the honour of
becoming my widow’.
They
married in a humanist ceremony in the Scottish Highlands over the Easter
weekend before a short honeymoon in Venice and Paris.
From then she jokingly referred to herself as ‘chief widow-in-waiting’.
Yesterday
she issued a statement through Banks’s website, saying: ‘Iain died in
the early hours this morning. His death was calm and without pain.’
Banks
passed away just three weeks after being presented with finished copies
of his final book The Quarry, which is about a man who is dying of
cancer, ahead of its release on June 20.
In
a statement his publisher Little, Brown said he was ‘an irreplaceable
part of the literary world’ and ‘one of the country’s best-loved
novelists’.
Banks, who also
wrote science fiction novels as Iain M Banks, revealed his terminal
illness on his blog in April, a month after his diagnosis.
He
wrote: ‘The bottom line, now, I’m afraid, is that as a late stage gall
bladder cancer patient, I’m expected to live for “several months” and
it’s extremely unlikely I’ll live beyond a year.’
Praising
the ‘professionalism’ of the NHS, he said a course of chemotherapy
might extend his life for ‘several months’ but that he would withdraw
from all planned public engagements.
Widow: Iain Banks (right) announced in April he
had married his long-term partner Adele Hartley (left) as he revealed he
was suffering with cancer
Legacy: Before his death Banks completed his final novel The Quarry which is to be published on June 20
Later Banks, who was born in Fife,
Scotland, used his website Banksophilia, set up to provide updates on
his health, to thank his fans for their support.
He said: ‘I feel treasured. I am deeply flattered and touched, and I can’t deny I’ve been made to feel very special indeed.’
Last month he added: ‘Still knocked
out by the love and depth of feeling coming from so many people; thank
you, all of you. It means a lot, almost more than I can say, and –
whatever type or size of screen I read the comments on – I come away
from the computer, laptop, iPad or phone with a happy smile on my face.’
Before he died, Banks decided to write thank-you letters to his favourite authors telling them how much he valued their work.
Award-winning: Banks was named by The Times newspaper as one of the 50 greatest living authors in 2008
The author said he did not expect to live longer
than a year and died of cancer just two months after announcing he was
terminally ill
Banks published his first novel The Wasp Factory in 1984 and his debut sci-fi title, Consider Phlebas, came three years later.
The Crow Road, which opens with the
memorable line ‘It was the day my grandmother exploded’, was adapted for
a popular television series in 1996. In 2008 Banks was named as one of
the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
The Quarry describes the physical and
emotional strains in the final weeks of Guy, who has terminal cancer and
is being looked after by his teenage son.
It reveals the difficulties Guy faces, from using a walking frame to his opposition to alternative treatments.
Crime writer Ian Rankin, a friend of
Banks for many years, paid tribute to his sense of humour, saying: ‘He
was refusing to take cancer seriously, in the same way that he refused
to take life seriously. He was a great guy to hang around with and
somebody for whom life and the world were a fictional template for him
to do as he pleased.’
Sci-fi author Ken McLeod said: ‘I
think he has left us a very significant body of work, both in
mainstream literature and science fiction and he’s also left a large gap
in the Scottish literary scene as well as the wider English-speaking
world.’
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh said: ‘I’m off out to the pub to toast one of my all time literary heroes with a malt.’
HE SILENT KILLER: GALLBLADDER CANCER
The
gallbladder concentrates and stores bile from the liver as part of the
digestive system. Gallbladder cancer is rare in the UK but is more
common among women.
It does not cause symptoms in the early stages, grows quickly and is often not diagnosed until the cancer has spread.
Most
early-stage cancers are found by chance. At more advanced stages,
symptoms include jaundice, abdominal pain and nausea. If the cancer is
diagnosed early enough, surgery is the most effective treatment.
As
it advances it can spread to lymph nodes, the liver and other organs.
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can be used to stem its spread but only
one patient in ten with advanced gallbladder cancer survives for five
years.
Vanda Taylor, of
Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Gallbladder cancer is seldom diagnosed early
and therefore can be very difficult to treat successfully.’
DAILYMAIL
1 comment:
So sad that he has to die this early and it is after he marries his girlfriend. I hope the family and the wife finds peace and relief in God's time.
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