Doped up on marijuana, ether, speed and anything else he carried around in his “ briefcase of narcotics,” Thompson instead presented an almost 3,000-word long ‘gonzo’ piece that was immediately rejected by Sports Illustrated. Thompson, you see, started off as a small-time journalist, publishing pieces in various magazines and journals until Sports Illustrated asked him to cover a motorcycle race in Las Vegas, Nevada. While there is much to be said about Thompson and his profound contributions to postmodern literature, the bulk of his eloquent anthropological critique is featured in his most infamous novel, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” - one that allowed the reader to peer inside the mind of a pessimistic idealist and watch his world unravel. Placing more emphasis on the narrator rather than the events at hand, gonzo journalism allowed Thompson to insert his opinionated (and sometimes cynical) views on life into his writing - and fundamentally altered the structure of cultural criticism pieces. Through his writing, Thompson revolutionized the idea of “gonzo journalism,” a type of nonfiction narrative that becomes so altered by the speaker’s subjective interpretation that it becomes a different beast entirely. His work reads like a lullaby for proliferant romantics, but cuts sharp and deep where it needs to. Following years of struggle with crippling health issues and bouts of depression, Thompson’s outlook on life dwindled over the years as he watched the era of counterculture and revolutionary upheaval fade from the American horizon, now taken over by mindless consumerism and romanticized atavism for the “good old days.” The passionate idealism that once dominated the youthful landscape of the United States - the pleas to “Make Love Not War” and the cries for political equality and freedom - had faded before Thompson’s very eyes, resulting in a dim reality that he was grossly critical of.ĭespite his dwindling optimism for a better future, Thompson, in his attempt to admonish the people that fed into this disillusioned society, had accidentally spearheaded a journalistic revolution that had the potential to beguile readers worldwide.
Thompson, author of the classic novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” shot himself in the head in his Colorado home. Almost 17 years ago today, the renowned journalist Hunter S.
0 kommentar(er)
