> ><http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001223/417174.html> > >December 23, 2000 > >Gonzo, where have you gone? > >A new collection of Hunter S. Thompson's letters >recalls his salad days, before his slow, sad decline > >Robin Gambhir >National Post > >When Richard Nixon died, most commentators went out of their >way to say nice things about a man who had abused the trust of >the American people and made a mockery of the presidency. Not >Hunter S. Thompson, who instead eulogized Nixon as "a swine of a >man and a jabbering dupe of a president." > >This was classic Thompson, a unique writer who came to the fore >at the crux of America's cultural breach birth, as sub-cultures and >counter-cultures became part of the common culture. With all of >the social and cultural chaos that ensued in the years following >the murder of President Kennedy, nothing was beyond the pale -- >not taking drugs and writing about it, as Thompson did in Fear and >Loathing in Las Vegas, his most well-known book, and not even >calling the president a swine (or worse). > >To get at the truth, Thompson's brand of "Gonzo Journalism" >threw objectivity to the dogs. And even though he has now been >writing this way for over 30 years, it is still a style uniquely his >own. As a style, it doesn't so much defy definition as elude it. >Gonzo places Thompson at the centre of the action and usually >involves a fantastical tale that mixes satire and caricature to the >point where it is difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. > >Thompson's writing is a lot like the stories guys tell each other >over a few beers, except far more outlandish. Like most guys >stories, there is an element of self-aggrandizement; unlike these >stories there is also moral outrage and a sort of misanthropic >social satire. Thompson hates just about everyone to varying >degrees and for varying reasons. In "The Kentucky Derby is >Decadent and Depraved," a magazine article that originally >appeared in Scanlan's Monthly in 1970 and the first definitive >piece of Gonzo Journalism, Thompson paints a horrific picture of >the Derby: > >"'That whole thing,' I said, 'will be jammed with people; fifty >thousand or so, and most of them staggering drunk. It's a >fantastic scene -- thousands of people fainting, crying, >copulating, trampling each other and fighting with broken whiskey >bottles . . . By midafternoon they'll be guzzling mint juleps with >both hands and vomiting on each other between races. The whole >place will be jammed with bodies, shoulder to shoulder. It's hard to >move around. The aisles will be slick with vomit; people falling >down and grabbing at your legs to keep from being stomped. >Drunks pissing on themselves in the betting lines. Dropping >handfuls of money and fighting to stoop over and pick it up.'" > >Thompson's writing was less a product of his time than a reaction >to it. For example, Nixon looms large in Thompson's work as an evil >monster that represents the death of all that was good and right >in America. When Thompson was growing up in the post-war era, >the American dream mythology, buoyed by economic expansion, >was a strong cultural force. But all of that seemed to spiral >downward after Kennedy's assassination and it weighed heavily on >both Thompson and his country. The death of the American >dream, and all those he associated with it, is at the crux of >everything Thompson has written since his first book, Hell's Angels >(his account of a year he spent riding with the outlaw motorcycle >gang) was published in 1967. If Thompson's writing has an >apocalyptic quality to it, it has a lot to do with the time in which >he was writing and the people he was writing about. > >Thompson's gonzo style garnered him fame in all quarters, and he >was widely solicited to write for magazines such as Playboy, >Scanlan's and later, Rolling Stone. But Fear and Loathing in Las >Vegas is the book that made him truly famous. In the same way >that generations of people (usually young men) discover Henry >Miller by reading Tropic of Cancer, so too readers often discover >Thompson by reading his deranged chronicle of roaming around >as Vegas with his "attorney" in a mood that varies from a >drug-induced haze to extreme paranoia. The opening of the book >sets the tone: > >"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert >when the drugs began to take hold . . . And suddenly there was a >terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like >huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, >which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down >to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are >these goddamn animals?'" > >If this kind of writing excites you, you are not alone. Imagine >reading two hundred pages of it and you will understand why >Vegas has remained popular. It has all the attractions of a >roller-coaster ride: horror, euphoria, speed and danger. > >Two years after Vegas appeared, Thompson, now an unlikely >celebrity, covered the 1972 presidential election for Rolling Stone. >He sent in articles every two weeks for a year as he crossed the >country with the candidates. These articles would eventually be >published in book form as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign >Trail. It stands as one of the best accounts of what it was like to >be in the press fraternity (female political correspondents were >largely unheard of at that time). > >Thompson proved an insightful and talented political observer and >his coverage was taken just as seriously as any other >correspondent. Odd, given the subjects Thompson wrote about before he >assumed the national affairs desk for Rolling Stone. > >Commenting later, George McGovern, the Democrat candidate, >said he was told Thompson was "an eccentric, brilliant, perceptive >reporter, that he reached a wide and young audience and that he >was not to be taken lightly." 1972 was a high watermark for > Thompson, one that he has not reached since. > >In the early 1980s, Thompson's marriage collapsed under the >weight of years of drug abuse, alcoholism and beatings. Sandy >Thompson, the wife who had worked cleaning motel rooms so her >husband could write, had had enough. Under the protection of a >sheriff's deputy, she was escorted from their home in Woody >Creek, Colorado. > >Some say that this precipitated the decline in both the quantity >and quality of Thompson's writing. The Curse of Lono (1983) was >the last sustained effort at writing Thompson made during the >1980s. Here, Thompson returned to his venerable road trip >approach to "cover" the Honolulu Marathon. But both the locus >and subject matter were a little off for his readership. It was >inevitably compared to Vegas and, while it was warmly received, >general opinion held that it simply was not as good. > >Thompson's writing has remained in demand because there is a >constituency of readers who will buy anything he publishes, but >Thompson has always been a relentless perfectionist and, >following the end of his marriage, he felt he had nothing more to >say. > >The need for money and the constant badgering of his publishers, >however, led him to cover the 1992 presidential campaign. The >result was Better Than Sex. Those who had read his 1972 election >coverage were disappointed. Thompson wasn't on the bus for this >one, in fact he "covered" it from home. Some of the observations >are amusing, even insightful, but in the end the whole book >smacks of self-parody. A series of faxes between Clinton aide >George Stephanopoulos and Thompson, ostensibly reprinted >verbatim, would suggest Thompson was "right in there" for this >campaign, but in Stephanopoulos's political memoir All Too Human, >he does not mention Thompson once. > >Most writers, at the end of their creative lives, start publishing old >material that often should have stayed manuscripts. In 1999, 40 >years after he started it, Thompson published his novel The Rum >Diary, a fictional account of a hard-drinking reporter's life in 1950s >San Juan. In the context of his later work, the novel is a curiosity >that shows little of the gonzo style he is famous for. > >To publish a collection of letters is the literary equivalent of a >death rattle. As Thompson publishes his second collection, Fear & >Loathing in America: The Gonzo Letters Vol. 2: The Brutal >Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist (Simon & Schuster, 784 pp., >$44.50), one wonders if this may be true of his career. It would >be a sad end for a man who has been a singular voice in what has >become a frequently harmonized American media. > >Reading letters is usually the province of academics; unless you >have a tendency towards literary voyeurism, it is pretty dry stuff. >The letters in Fear and Loathing in America are different. Not just >because Thompson wrote them, but also because many of the >people he was writing to and about were making history at the >time. The anthology covers the period from 1968 to 1976, when >Thompson would produce his most famous work. It was also a >time that witnessed some significant events in recent American >history: the Apollo moon landing, Woodstock, the end of the >Vietnam war, Watergate and the rise of fall of Richard Nixon. > >Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history who edited this volume, >has done a good job of contextualizing Thompson's letters. Each >one is preceded by a short paragraph that explains its relevance >to Thompson and as a reflection of the times. Footnotes are >provided to explain some of the otherwise obscure references >made by Thompson. > >In one of the more interesting exchanges, a self-proclaimed >"bored-to-tears" housewife wrote fawningly to Thompson after he >published Hell's Angels. She commented that the Angels sounded >"wild and delirious ... I envy you the experience and the fun you >must have had with them. You must have had a perpetual ball!" > Thompson wrote back congratulating her on her perceptiveness >and noted that the whole thing was a "wonderful rat-f--- and, as >[she] put it, 'a perpetual ball.'" > >However, Thompson was alarmed at the notoriety the book had >brought. Complaining to his editor, he said "you can't imagine the >wild s--- that gets forwarded to me." To dissuade this housewife >from writing again, he went on to tell her that two of the Angels >had just left his house and were heading out to New York to stay >with her. "They'll show you where it's at," he wrote, "and your friends >too if they want it." > >For a reader of Thompson's work, the letters between Thompson >and his editors, friends and colleagues make you feel like you are >privy to Thompson's private thoughts -- all the thoughts, >speculations and musings that assume a much more definitive >tone in his published work. They also provide a context for these >works. At the same time, the letters' subjects are expansive; >everything from missives to presidents about the Vietnam War to >one requesting a refund for a parka (Thompson was very >particular about the quality of the garments he wore : A fan of >L.L. Bean, he frequently found other companies' merchandise >subpar). > >In terms of his much vaunted, stream-of-invective gonzo style, >the letters reveal a far more sedate -- even pedantic -- Hunter >Thompson. The letters to his son and his mother betray nothing of >his wild-man persona. > >Does the publication of Thompson's early novel and collections of >letters mark the end of his career? It would appear that this is the >case. His author's note, the only piece of original writing in the >book, is meandering and unfocused. It seems his powers may be >on the wane, his muse fled. > >Yet the old letters themselves are wonderful stuff: funny, >intriguing and sometimes poignant. They are equally important as >part of the historical record as they are to journalism and yes, >even literature. Ultimately Fear and Loathing in America is a >cultural study of a crucial time in American history -- when both >Thompson and his country lost their innocence and their dream. >---- >Robin Gambhir lives, works and writes in Toronto. >ambhir@tvo.org
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