Death, Survival and Joy Division

The singer Ian Curtis, of the band Joy Division, would have turned 70 this week had he not killed himself in 1980 at the age of 23.

Or would he? It’s nice to believe that Curtis made some kind of terrible mistake that would have seemed inexplicable to him in hindsight — but it is very possible that if he had not killed himself in 1980, he would have kil…