Seeing reviews of the new film about Hunter Thompson inspired me to revisit some of the literary legend's most notable works. It goes without saying that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a masterpiece. What kind of masterpiece, I’m not sure, but it’s both brilliant and degenerate and quite distinctively so.
What irritates me sometimes is that Thompson's sordid life story usually gets more attention than his writing does. His words are the real point, right?
“I took the expressway out to the track, driving very fast and jumping the monster car back and forth between lanes, driving with a beer in one hand and my mind so muddled that I almost crushed a Volkswagen full of nuns when I swerved to catch the right exit.”
That’s just a random selection from his 1970 magazine piece The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. This stuff is fun to read and, I suppose, fun to imagine Thompson actually doing.
In his writings and interviews, he gave us a treasure trove of weird wisdom and Twain-like comic perceptions. “Call on God, but row away from the rocks,” is one of his well-remembered quotes. Another: “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”
I may need to go see that new movie.
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