Timothy McSweeney RIP 2010

February 8, 2010 5:29 PM

He was an enigma, a man looking for a home, producing writing that was cryptic and full of longing.... the McSweeneys insisted that the use of the name was acceptable, even appropriate, given Timothy's background as an artist and search for connection and meaning through the written word.

The real Timothy McSweeney, after whom Dave Eggers' website was named, has died. (hattip: Kottke)
posted by Joe in Australia (12 comments total)

What about the magazine, which predates the web site by years and has the same name... is it named after this guy as well or is that just a coincidence?
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:32 PM on February 8, 2010

What about the magazine, which predates the web site by years and has the same name... is it named after this guy as well or is that just a coincidence?

Um. First link, first paragraph.
posted by eyeballkid at 5:36 PM on February 8, 2010

.
posted by benzenedream at 5:42 PM on February 8, 2010

Hauntingly weird.
posted by orthogonality at 5:46 PM on February 8, 2010

.

Is the store in Brooklyn still there? I need to go back and get a replacement for my "Created in darkness by troubled Americans" t-shirt.
posted by emelenjr at 5:46 PM on February 8, 2010

Timothy McSweeney's persona had been constructed by a magazine, a website, their editors and contributors. Instead of being a Neoist constructed identity (Monty Cantsin or Karen Eliot), begun wholly fictionally and used with cynical trappings of anarchic freedom and evasion, McSweeney was a real person; one whose apparent interests and desires continued to be, through the magazine in his name, described and investigated by people, some of whom may not have known he was real.

Egger's obituary of McSweeney, and the McSweeney family's granting Eggers permission to use his name, is weirdly touching.

I'm feeling sad for a person for whom, as little as I know, his life has been relayed through the reminiscences of people who never met him and the rest is wholly imaginary.
posted by ardgedee at 5:50 PM on February 8, 2010

I'm feeling sad for a person for whom, as little as I know, his life has been relayed through the reminiscences of people who never met him and the rest is wholly imaginary.

I know, it's like something out of a story by Borges.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:21 PM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

"The Ballad of Timothy McSweeney", as written and recorded by They Might Be Giants.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:12 PM on February 8, 2010

(from issue 6)
posted by mr_roboto at 7:13 PM on February 8, 2010

It's really touching to me that this played out the way it did. Growing up with only network television and corporate radio meant that most of the touching works about people who died were of people from certain groups - politicians, actors, musicians, royalty - who were famous already. Seldom would you see stories like this where the achievements and struggles of the unknown were celebrated, except perhaps a moment on evening news or a paragraph buried in the local paper, reaching few.

Good to see an entertainment site treating someone only loosely connected with them in such a respectful way. This is part of the good the Internet can do; these are the stories worth telling. And spreading.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:13 PM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow, it was a high-risk strategy to name your publication after a real person without their permission; someone, moreover, who might quite reasonably have interpreted it as a rather thoughtless piece of condescending public mockery.

Luckily for Eggers the family has decided on McSweeney's behalf that it shall be interpreted as a sincere tribute, somehow connected with McSweeney's 'search for connection and meaning through the written word'.

Nicer that way and it means that instead of having to feel slightly ashamed Eggers can chalk it up as another one of those wonderful, magical little things he does.
posted by Phanx at 1:33 AM on February 9, 2010

I'm confused. In the front of each quarterly, there's an editor's note, one of which (Early Fall 2004, subtitled "At War For The Foreseeable Future And He's Never Been So Scared", featuring a cartoon of Bush as an amputee) describes a trip to Ireland where they met one Timothy McSweeney. But there's no mention of the real Timothy McSweeney. And since McSweeney's frequently features unknown writers and artists, why wouldn't Eggers publish at least one piece by his publication's namesake? Especially after all that detective work.
posted by AppleSeed at 4:47 AM on February 9, 2010