Roger Allen LaPorte
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Roger Laporte
Laporte, Roger (1925-2001). A philosopher by training, Laporte is primarily known as the author of a series of unusual works (including La Veille, 1963; Fugue, 1970; Moriendo, 1983) where attention focuses on the activity of writing itself, to the virtual exclusion of other subject-matter. Assembled in one volume (Une vie, 1986), the nine separate texts are experiments in a new genre, labelled ‘biographie’ (see Carnets, 1979; Lettre à personne, 1988), where the writer's self is apprehended in its primordial relationship to language and utterance. Austere but rigorous and elevating, Laporte's work often invokes kindred spirits such as Mallarmé, Artaud, and Blanchot, on whom he has written with penetration (Quinze variations sur un thème biographique, 1975).
[Michael Sheringham]
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Roger Allen LaPorte
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Roger Allen LaPorte
Roger Allen LaPorte (1943 – November 10, 1965) is best known as a protester of the Vietnam War who set himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in New York City on November 9, 1965, to protest the United States involvement in the war. A former seminarian, he was a 22 year-old member of the Catholic Worker Movement at the time of his death.
| Roger Allen LaPorte | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1943 |
| Died | November 10, 1965 (aged 22) United Nations Building, New York City, New York, U.S. |
|
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Life
He was active in public speaking and debate clubs winning awards. His parents divorced after Roger graduated from high school. Before joining the Catholic Workers, he had attended a seminary in Vermont and hoped to become a monk. He, however, withdrew from the seminary early and attended (and graduated) from Holy Ghost Academy, Tupper Lake, New York in 1961. [1]
Preceding immolations
Main article: Self-immolations in protest to the Vietnam War
On June 11, 1963 Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection. Thích Quảng Đức was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration. Photos of his self-immolation were circulated widely across the world and brought attention to the policies of the Diệm regime.
On March 16, 1965 Alice Herz, an 82 year old pacifist, immolated herself on a Detroit street corner in protest of the escalating Vietnam War. A man and his two boys were driving by and saw her burning and put out the flames. She died of her wounds ten days later.
On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire below Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's Pentagon office.[2]
Political suicide
On November 9, 1965, in front of the Dag Hammarskjold Library at the United Nations in New York, he composed himself in the position of the Buddhist monks who had immolated themselves in Vietnam earlier, doused himself with gasoline, and set himself aflame. [3]
La Porte died the next day from second- and third-degree burns covering 95 percent of his body. Despite his burns, he remained conscious and able to speak. When asked why he had burned himself, La Porte calmly replied, "I'm a Catholic Worker. I'm against war, all wars. I did this as a religious action."[4]
See also
References
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "The Pacifists" Time Magazine. November 12, 1965. (Accessed July 23, 2007) [2]
- ^ Buckley, Thomas. "Man, 22, Immolates Himself In Antiwar Protest at U.N." New York Times (1857-Current file); Nov 10, 1965; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2004).
- ^ A Companion to the Vietnam War by Marilyn Blatt Young, Robert Buzzanco, Dawson Books - 2006
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Oxford Companion to French Literature
The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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