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Literary Critic John Leonard dies

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Literary Critic John Leonard dies

Nov 07 2008

John Leonard lost his fight to cancer and died earlier this week, age 69. Critic, editor and novelist, he was particularly known for his early championing of future Nobel laureates Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Kurt Vonnegut once observed, ''When I start to read John Leonard, it is as though I, while simply looking for the men's room, blundered into a lecture by the smartest man who ever lived.''

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