Bibliophilia - Remembering The Good Doctor Gonzo

Hunter S. Thompson was born on July 18, 1937 and died on February 20, 2005. Neither date is close enough to celebrate the anniversary, but this should be no reason not to write about one of the favorite authors of my youth.

Discovering Thompson

I may be not the only kid who absolutely loved the 1998 movie adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, even though at that time I had little knowledge of the background to the story, the characters, and the social transformation that the 1960's were all about. But I enjoyed the two wacky characters on their drug bender, leaving a trail of destruction across Las Vegas, and I was intrigued by the quotes and monologues that raised more questions than they answered.

When I got my hands on the actual book, I realized that the film followed it almost word for word, and though it was little useful in explaining backgrounds, it opened up the door to my interest regarding the sixties... and drugs of course. This may be another thing I have in common with many of my peers.

Discovering Thompson For Real

It was the book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 that got me into reading Hunter S. Thompson, rather than just watching the movie in my head while reading the words to it. It was a curious mistake that started it, as I was going to order Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Realizing my mistake, I at least wanted to give it a try, and so I dove head on into one of the most beautiful examples of Gonzo Journalism covering the presidential campaign of 1972, resulting in Nixon's reelection.

Unlike any piece on politics I'd read before, this book was entertaining. I must have been about half-way through, when I realized that I was laughing more than reading the Las Vegas one. At the same time it gave me lots of interesting insights into the mess we call electoral politics. Without outright explaining the word, I understood Gonzo Journalism to be utterly subjective, with the writer stating his own opinions unabashedly, something unacceptable in conventional journalism. However, the premise being that there is no such thing as an objective viewpoint, it embraces subjectivity to the fullest, which to me seemed not only honest, but funny and bold. I knew I needed to read more Thompson.

Gonzo in Action: Reporting on the Hell's Angels

After reading about his unencumbered description of sleazy political games, and shifty candidates vying for popular support, I was curious about how he would do the same thing with the most feared motorcycle gang. Even before reading about the Hell's Angels, it was clear to me that those dudes didn't give a hoot about popular opinion, but if someone tried to talk shit about them, they wouldn't think twice about giving them a righteous stomping.

I was properly surprised, to read a well researched work, explaining the origins of the gang, the background of its members, and the general lifestyles and attitudes they had in common. Mixed into the analysis of the historical context were personal accounts of hanging out with the Angels, riding their bikes around L.A. partying, and scaring the populace. This was anthropology to my taste! Of course in the end, Thompson did manage to piss off the Angels, and he did not escape his stomping.

Golden Thompson: Kingdom of Fear, Generation of Swine and The Great Shark Hunt

After reading the three books mentioned above, I was sold. I declared HST to be my absolute favorite writer, and my mind was making up similar monologues about my daily life, trying to emulate the style of the master. It must have been around then that I read how as a kid Thompson would copy The Great Gatsby, trying to adopt Fitzgerald's style. Completely blown away by so much dedication, I set out to do the same thing with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but discontinued after the first few pages. That is one more thing I assume to have in common with Thomson fans of my generation. Instead, however, I kept reading more of his books.

Kingdom of Fear had just appeared recently, which provided more insight into Thompson's life, from being a bad kid, blowing up mailboxes and sabotaging school buses in his native Kentucky, to saving a roller-skating girl from viscous dogs, and thus meeting his second wife. In his last big work the author looks back at his life in his typical helter-skelter gonzo style, emphasizing and probably exaggerating many things.

My all time favorite book by Thompson has to be Generation of Swine, which together with The Great Shark Hunt are two parts of the four-volume Gonzo Papers, which in turn are a collection of his articles at major publications, such as The San Francisco Examiner.

Reading Generation of Swine the 80's came alive like I never thought they could. The good doctor was simply at his best here: being a journalist, an outlaw, a pirate, a gonzo, writing a weekly column about everything from corrupt sports to even more corrupt politics, from the Iran-Contra affair to the coup d'etat in Haiti, from trying his luck in the salvage business to a divine intervention in a bet outside his hometown bar.

Finally, The Great Shark Hunt provided some answers and backgrounds to what I had been seeking ever since becoming interested in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The actual reason why he and his "lawyer" went to Vegas in the first place, having to do with the assassination of Chicano journalist Rubén Salazar, as well as Thompson's own escapades into politics, running on the Freak Power ticket for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado. Additionally, the book offers more insight into Thompson's past, as a free-lance journalist in Latin America.

Past the Zenith, Being Done With Thompson

After the Gonzo Papers I tried to keep feeding my HST addiction, but what I found left me a bit cold. At that time he was still alive, writing Hey Rube, a column for ESPN.com, but I thought that was merely a shadow of his former self. Also other books of his that I didn't want to miss out on, such as The Curso of Lono about his life on Hawaii, or the highly acclaimed Rum Diary, about starting out as a journalist in Puerto Rico, didn't have the desired effect. I found them neither particularly insightful nor entertaining. They were certainly decadent and opinionated, but without the former two attributes that tends to be a bit annoying.

When I finally finished Screwjack I decided that I was over Thompson. It couldn't be helped. Maybe he changed too much over the years, maybe it was me who matured beyond the point of enjoying his writings. However, the Thomson trip was brilliant while it lasted, and I still cherish his books as wonderful examples and illustrations of American decadence at the end of the 20th century.

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If you are interested in reading these books, you can find them on my stortebeker channel at LBRY. If you are interested in joining LBRY, please follow my invite. You may also be interested in my other book reviews in my Bibliophilia series:

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