Hunter S. Thompson. Author, journalist and creator of Gonzo Journalism. He has approximately 146 works in 398
publications in 16 languages. He has a huge cult following around the world which continues to grow even after his death in 2005. He counted the likes of Johnny Depp, Senator George McGovern, Ed Bradley, Charlie Rose, Jack Nicholson, Ralph Steadman and many more as his friends.
I was going to write a brief bio about Hunter as a lead-up to this series but in the interest of space saving I thought I’d look for a decent, brief bio on the web, you can find it here.
I was somewhat concerned that the title HST For Beginners would sound a bit patronizing, but the idea of this series is aimed firstly at anyone new to the Hunter S. Thompson world. A plus side is that any seasoned HST campaigners will find the contributors’ views just as interesting. I felt it was important that we heard from some people that knew Hunter, worked with him and socialized with him to a point. It’s also important to get thoughts from some folks who only know Hunter from reading his work, just to get a view from all angles as it were.
The bottom line is there is more to Hunter S. Thompson than the drug crazed loony he’s made out to be. He was a writer first and his so called loony side was secondary to that. Yes, both sides went hand-in-hand through his life, and he did struggle with trying to keep them separate; and more often than not his Raoul Duke persona smothered what he tried protect which was his writing legacy. I’m not saying ignore his crazy side just don’t let it get in the way of his writing talent and maybe it will go towards doing our bit to keep his literary memory alive.
The Concept.
So far the HST for Beginners series is in 2 parts. (1) The Separation of Hunter S. Thompson the man and writer, and (2)Raoul Duke the drug-taking, crazy scribe. There may be more parts to come but for now it’s these.
The Contributors.
I was lucky to be able to line up a bunch of accomplished writers, scholars, fans and friends of Hunter Thompson. Who better to hear from than those who knew the man and those who know his work inside out. To the right of this site you’ll see two categories. Contributors’ links and Contributors’ words. To read what each contributor has to say on the chosen subjects just click on a name under Contributors’ words, and to see their web-sites just click on Contributors’ sites.
