(Dr.) Hunter S. Thompson: A short appreciation
Created | Updated Mar 22, 2002
What does Hunter S. Thompson do? There is no short answer, he writes fiction, reports facts, philosicises, criticises, theorises, cuts straight to the heart of American culture (now there's on oxymoron if ever I heard one.) He is also the "inventor" of Gonzo Journalism.
What is Gonzo journalism? I hear you ask, well in its simplest form it is reporting from the inside. It is believing that the person that is doing the reporting is just as important as the story that person is reporting on. It makes sense to me, no matter what, people are coloured by their beliefs and objections, reporters try to stay objective when they are writing, but this is impossible. HST saw that, so he decided to include his own views, beliefs and actions in all his writings, from the eye of the storm, so to speak.
A brief history, to bring you up to speed, born July 18, 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky. He broke a few laws and joined the Air Force to avoid a stint in the big house. It was here that he started reporting. Knowing that reporters are the fourth lowest of the low, (lawyers and estate agents are second and third, with politicians taking the lead in that poll) he became a reporter. Upon realising that all reporters despise sports reporters that's where he pinned his flag, so he became Sports Editor at Eglin Air Force Base. After his discharge, there are still disputes about how honorable this was, he spent the tail end of the Fifties in South America working for various newspapers.
Now lets skip a few years to get to the good stuff. The early sixties were spent hanging around and getting into scrapes with Hells Angels, writing books (The Rum Diary), and moving to San Francisco in 1964. Now any wild, upper boogaloo dude hanging in San Fran at this time is going to meet some interesting people. And our hero met them all, Kesey, Wolfe, Ginsberg, he also did some fun stuff: participated in Keseys first Acid Tests, introduced some Hells Angels to LSD, and had a life changing moment.
People can often look back on their lives and pick one momentous moment, a moment where their whole life turned on its axis and started spinning in a new orbit. You must of had one, if you went to a different bar you wouldn't have met your wife, if you crossed the street 4.2 seconds earlier you wouldn't have been hit by that bus, that kind of thing. Well in June 1968 Dr Thompson had one of these moments. On a visit to the Chicago Democratic Convention he was assaulted by the downer cops, it was then he decided to strive, fight and write for change, yep he got all political on us.
By 1970 he was living in Aspen, Colorado, which at that time was believed to be "the place to be seen at" by all the so-called movers and shakers, you know the sort, those slimy Hollywood types, those greased up greasy politicians and worst of all those who did nothing but drool over these people. So what did HST do? He ran for sheriff, he called his ticket "Freak Power", and he lost by only 500 votes.
This in turn lead to him writing his own account of these events ("The Battle Of Aspen") which was the first of his articles that was printed by Rolling Stone magazine, which still publishes his articles.
If there is one piece of literature (believe me everything he writes is literature) that he is most known for it is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". For the uninitiated, it is the apocryphal tale of Raoul Duke (aka HST) and a wild weekend he spent in Las Vegas. He was sent to report on the Mint 400 motorbike race, but ditched that to examine the American Dream, which they did, not through rose tinted glasses, but through glasses that were heavily glazed with LSD. This was proported at the time by HST to be the most accurate example of Gonzo Journalism yet, but he later admitted that whilst the weekend took place, some of the events didn't. So far I've only asked you the reader of my little piece for one thing, your time, now I ask you to go out buy the book, and read it. If you have already read the book, read it again. At the very least watch the 1998 movie of the book starring Johnny Depp and directed by Terry Gilliam.
Fear and Loathing first appeared in Rolling Stone in two parts and it cemented the magazine to HST like losers to Vegas. Shortly after the book was published Rolling stone decided to make HST their political correspondent. He reported the Nixon v McGovern 1972 election from the heart of the McGovern campaign, and went on to write on many more.
It is at this stage, I must bow out and bid you all a final farewell. I have taken you as far as you can go, you must finish the journey yourself. HST's words are far nicer than mine, as I have said start out on Fear and Loathing, then try out his collection of essays and articles, The Great Shark Hunt, after that its your choice.
What is Gonzo journalism? I hear you ask, well in its simplest form it is reporting from the inside. It is believing that the person that is doing the reporting is just as important as the story that person is reporting on. It makes sense to me, no matter what, people are coloured by their beliefs and objections, reporters try to stay objective when they are writing, but this is impossible. HST saw that, so he decided to include his own views, beliefs and actions in all his writings, from the eye of the storm, so to speak.
A brief history, to bring you up to speed, born July 18, 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky. He broke a few laws and joined the Air Force to avoid a stint in the big house. It was here that he started reporting. Knowing that reporters are the fourth lowest of the low, (lawyers and estate agents are second and third, with politicians taking the lead in that poll) he became a reporter. Upon realising that all reporters despise sports reporters that's where he pinned his flag, so he became Sports Editor at Eglin Air Force Base. After his discharge, there are still disputes about how honorable this was, he spent the tail end of the Fifties in South America working for various newspapers.
Now lets skip a few years to get to the good stuff. The early sixties were spent hanging around and getting into scrapes with Hells Angels, writing books (The Rum Diary), and moving to San Francisco in 1964. Now any wild, upper boogaloo dude hanging in San Fran at this time is going to meet some interesting people. And our hero met them all, Kesey, Wolfe, Ginsberg, he also did some fun stuff: participated in Keseys first Acid Tests, introduced some Hells Angels to LSD, and had a life changing moment.
People can often look back on their lives and pick one momentous moment, a moment where their whole life turned on its axis and started spinning in a new orbit. You must of had one, if you went to a different bar you wouldn't have met your wife, if you crossed the street 4.2 seconds earlier you wouldn't have been hit by that bus, that kind of thing. Well in June 1968 Dr Thompson had one of these moments. On a visit to the Chicago Democratic Convention he was assaulted by the downer cops, it was then he decided to strive, fight and write for change, yep he got all political on us.
By 1970 he was living in Aspen, Colorado, which at that time was believed to be "the place to be seen at" by all the so-called movers and shakers, you know the sort, those slimy Hollywood types, those greased up greasy politicians and worst of all those who did nothing but drool over these people. So what did HST do? He ran for sheriff, he called his ticket "Freak Power", and he lost by only 500 votes.
This in turn lead to him writing his own account of these events ("The Battle Of Aspen") which was the first of his articles that was printed by Rolling Stone magazine, which still publishes his articles.
If there is one piece of literature (believe me everything he writes is literature) that he is most known for it is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". For the uninitiated, it is the apocryphal tale of Raoul Duke (aka HST) and a wild weekend he spent in Las Vegas. He was sent to report on the Mint 400 motorbike race, but ditched that to examine the American Dream, which they did, not through rose tinted glasses, but through glasses that were heavily glazed with LSD. This was proported at the time by HST to be the most accurate example of Gonzo Journalism yet, but he later admitted that whilst the weekend took place, some of the events didn't. So far I've only asked you the reader of my little piece for one thing, your time, now I ask you to go out buy the book, and read it. If you have already read the book, read it again. At the very least watch the 1998 movie of the book starring Johnny Depp and directed by Terry Gilliam.
Fear and Loathing first appeared in Rolling Stone in two parts and it cemented the magazine to HST like losers to Vegas. Shortly after the book was published Rolling stone decided to make HST their political correspondent. He reported the Nixon v McGovern 1972 election from the heart of the McGovern campaign, and went on to write on many more.
It is at this stage, I must bow out and bid you all a final farewell. I have taken you as far as you can go, you must finish the journey yourself. HST's words are far nicer than mine, as I have said start out on Fear and Loathing, then try out his collection of essays and articles, The Great Shark Hunt, after that its your choice.
