Who is Hunter Thompson? The story of the rich, wild life of writer Hunter Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson(English) Hunter Stockton Thompson) (July 18, Louisville, Kentucky, USA - February 20, Woody Creek, Colorado) - famous American writer and journalist, founder of gonzo journalism.

Biography

early years

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Thompson grew up in the Cherokee Triangle area and attended the Louisville High school for boys. His parents, Jack (died in ) and Virginia (died in ) were married in . After his death, Jack left three sons- Hunter, Davison and James were raised by their mother, who was a severe alcoholic.

Suicide

Thompson died in his heavily fortified home in Woody Creek, Colorado, on February 20 at 5:42 p.m., from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. He was 67 years old.

Thompson's son (Juan), daughter-in-law (Jennifer Winkel Thompson) and grandson (Will Thompson) were visiting him the weekend of the suicide. Will and Jennifer were in the next room when they heard a shot, however, the shot was mistaken for a fallen book and they continued their conversation before checking; “Winkel Thompson continued to play 20 questions with Will, Juan continued to take photographs.” Thompson sat at his typewriter with the word "advisor" written in the center of the second page.

They told the press that they did not believe his suicide was driven by despair, but was a well-thought-out act after many painful medical procedures. Thompson's wife, Anita, who was at the gym at the time of her husband's death, spoke with Thompson on the phone as he took his life.

Artist and friend Ralph Steadman wrote:

“...25 years ago he told me that he would feel really trapped if he didn’t know that he could kill himself at any moment. I don't know if it was courage or stupidity or what else, but it was inevitable. I think the truth that united everything he wrote was that he meant what he said. If this is a performance for you, well, good. If you think this has enlightened you in any way, well, that's even better. If you're wondering whether he went to heaven or hell, rest assured, he'll check them both out, find out which one Richard Milhouse Nixon went to, and go there. He never tolerated boredom. But there should be football there too - and peacocks..."

3 months later Rolling Stone released what was announced last words Thompson, written in marker four days before his death. The note was titled "Football season is over."

Bibliography

• Mr. Leary, he's dead
• Songs of the Doomed)
• The Rum Diary)
• Kingdom of Fear)
• Hell's Angels / Hell's Angels. A Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1967)
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Wild Journey in the Heart of the American Dream / Fear and

Loathing in Las Vegas. A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1971)

• Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail "72 (1973)
• The Curse of Lono (1984)
• Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the 80s (1989)
• The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (1991)
• Better than Sex (1995)
• The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman (1998)
, Peter Boyle.
• “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) - directed by Terry Gilliam, starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro. Hunter Thompson starred in a short cameo of this film.
• "The Rum Diary" - in leading role: Johnny Depp . Status: the film has been announced. Production will begin after Johnny Depp finishes filming another film. Res Ipsa Loquitur.

If you're going to get crazy, Arrange for someone to pay you - otherwise they will simply hide you.

My house is not an impregnable fortress, as some journalists like to say about it. It's just an old log house. The only thing that really makes him unapproachable is my reputation. When people know they can get shot here, they will stay away.

There's a huge difference between being guilty and being arrested.

Morality is temporary wisdom is eternal.

If I write the whole truth, learned over the past 10 years, about 600 people, including me, will rot in prison cells around the world, from Rio to Seattle. Absolute truth is a rare and dangerous thing in the world of professional journalism.

The only difference between smart and crazy is the prefix “without,” and besides, the smart one has enough power to keep the crazy one locked up.

Last train, no matter where it comes from, it will never be full of good guys.

Good people drink good beer.

I feel for disco the same feelings that I have for ringworm.

I understand, that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on fear. He should always be in front of you - like someone you are about to kill.

Bill Clinton smoked marijuana without dragging on? I bet my buttocks! It's like I chewed LSD but didn't swallow it.

Fear - it's just another word for misunderstanding.

America - this is a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen who have the money to buy all the guns in the world and have no qualms about killing anyone who makes their existence uncomfortable.

Who are these pigs? These flag-kissing idiots, duped and fooled by stupid rich kids like George Bush? They are everything cruel and stupid that is in the American character.

That's it, there are no more towers - only bloody garbage, and no more hope on the world in our time, neither in the USA nor in any other country. You should not have any illusions about this: we are now at war with Someone and we will continue this war with a mysterious enemy until the end of our days.

In the world, which is controlled by pigs, all the gilts strive upward, and have everyone else until they gather their forces together. It is not necessary to win, the main thing is to save yourself from complete loss.

Perhaps there is no heaven. Or is it all just empty talk, the product of the crazy imagination of a lazy drunken redneck from Alabama whose heart is filled with hatred, but who has found a way to live where the real wind blows - where you can stay up late, have fun, be wild, drink whiskey, driving through empty streets and having nothing in your head except the desire to love someone and not be arrested.

We are turning into a nation of soundly flogged slaves of fear. Fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of unexpected terror, fear of staff reduction or dismissal, fear of losing housing for debts, fear of ending up in a concentration camp for vague suspicions of connections with terrorists.

When will we escape from Iraq with its tail tucked to its belly, this will be the fifth third world country in a row that, without a single hint of a navy or air force, has fucked us hard over the past 40 years.

Freedom is dying when it is not needed.

Civilization ends on the ocean shore. Then the person simply becomes part of the food chain, without necessarily ending up at the top.

We were warriors only when our tribes were strong as rivers.

The only thing I regret is- that he didn’t once run away with the governor’s daughter.

Walk proudly kick ass, learn Arabic, love music and never forget that you came from a long line of truth seekers, lovers and warriors.

Football season is over. No more games. No bombs. No walks. No fun. No swimming. 67 is 17 years more than 50. 17 years more than I needed and wanted. Boring. Always angry. No fun for anyone. 67. You become greedy. Act appropriately for your age. Relax. It won't hurt.

Death by choice

On February 21, 2005, in Woody Creek near Aspen, Colorado, a shot rang out, ending the life of one of the most extravagant writers of the 20th century. Hunter S. Thompson died as unusually as he lived it, so the question of whether the rifle shot was the result of careless handling of a weapon or the writer deliberately committed suicide will not find its answer for a long time, if it ever does. However, most people close to Thompson cannot believe that a man who adored firearms during his life could become a victim of an accident.

The 67-year-old writer spent his last weekend with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson. Recently, injuries and illnesses began to haunt him - he suffered a broken leg and surgery on his hip. "I think he made a conscious decision. He lived his 67 years wonderfully, he lived the way he wanted - and was not prepared to suffer the indignities of old age," says Douglas Brinkley, a historian and friend of the writer. "It was not an irrational act. It was "It was a well-planned act. He wasn't going to let anyone dictate how he died." The writer’s widow Anita expresses similar thoughts. “For Hunter, as a master of political moves and a supporter of the idea of ​​​​control, it was completely normal for the decision to end his life on his own schedule, with his own hands, and not to give power over himself to fate, genetics or chance. And although we will bitterly regret it, we "We understand his decision. Let the world know that Hunter Thomas died with a full glass in his hands, a fearless man, a warrior."

PHOTO FROM THE COVER OF THE BOOK "THE KINGDOM OF FEAR"

It is possible that the news of Thompson's death gave many in the United States a reason to breathe a sigh of relief. Not only was he not a favorite of the general public, remaining all his life a “black sheep,” or rather, the Shark, as he was called in literary circles, and the official authorities, to put it mildly, were wary of the writer. Thompson's track record, in addition to many literary works, there are numerous arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, illegal possession of firearms and disobeying authorities. In addition, Thompson was known as an implacable opponent of the current American administration, so the White House was also unlikely to grieve upon learning of his death.

Although calling Thompson an “irreconcilable enemy” means sinning against the truth. He did not stoop to branding his opponents as part of a political confrontation, as, for example, did director Michael Moore, who released the “anti-Bush” film “Fahrenheit 911” - he chose the path of contempt and outright mockery of everything that he it was alien and incomprehensible.

Great Shark Hunt

Hunter was still hopelessly trying to find American dream when she had already taken her last breath. He searched for it frantically, hoping that the Dream still existed, but all he found was madness, creeping in from every crevice, moving in every direction and engulfing the entire society, tragedy and paranoia, greed and hatred.

Johnny Depp, film actor

In the fall of 1971 on the pages of the magazine " Rolling Stone" chapters appear from the novel by a certain Raoul Duke "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" with illustrations by Ralph Steadman. The publication caused an unprecedented sensation, since both the style of presentation and the thoughts expressed by the author went against everything that American people were accustomed to reading. Subsequently the pseudonym was revealed, and into literature, journalism and political life Dr. Hunter Stockton Thompson, the Great Shark Hunt, “enemy number one” of politicians, lawyers and the “silent majority” entered, or to be more precise, intruded.

Thompson was born on July 18, 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky. To the beginning of military service future writer I've already been behind bars twice. So, in the spring of 1956, he and several friends were detained for vandalism. And in the summer of the same year he was caught on charges of theft. In the army, at an Air Force base in Florida, Hunter began his journalistic career. He ran a sports page in a local newspaper. Soon he began sending reports about life at the base to other publications, but his superiors did not like it, and he was kicked out of service. After that, wandering from publication to publication, Thompson was published in the Boston Globe and the Herald Tribune. Finally he was hired as the South American correspondent for the National Observer magazine.

Already at the beginning creative path drugs, alcohol and behavior beyond the bounds of public morality became for Thompson an integral attribute his life and, accordingly, his works. All this was transformed into a special “gonzo” style, the founder of which is Thompson. The first report that was dubbed "gonzo" was the scandalous report on the Louisville horse racing, "The Kentucky Derby. Decadent and vicious." In this material, Thompson wrote more about the so-called “white trash”, local outcasts, rather than about horses. Drinking constantly and distracted only by taking drugs, Thompson managed to write down snippets of his thoughts on napkins, wrappers, and bills. Reporter Bill Cardozo reviewed the report and remarked, “This is pure gonzo!”
This term, in the slang of the Irish inhabitants of Boston, refers to a person who is able to outdrink everyone at the table. The same word refers to the technique of shooting porn films when the cameraman is one of the actors. “Gonzo” is also the name given to journalists who are fixated on one particular story.

In Thompson's "gonzo journalism" there are no established rules, structure is not required, there are often no diagrams, and there is a discrepancy between form and content. In this case, the author must be a direct participant in the events. Thompson's own definitions of his style varied over time, but he always insisted that a good "gonzo journalist" "needs the talent, spontaneity and spontaneity of a master of live reportage, the eye of an artist or photographer, and the balls of steel of an actor" and that gonzo is "reportage style"

In 1966, Thompson's first large-scale work was published, entitled "Hell's Angels. The Strange and Terrible Saga of Motorcycle Gangs." As the Angels themselves said, “this is the only true book ever written about us.” The writer spent many months among bikers, riding a motorcycle he purchased. In essence, the book was a collection of reporters' notes, but it already made it possible to talk about Hunter as an accomplished writer. However, Thompson’s first novel, “Diary at Rum,” written in 1962, was published only in the 90s.

Madness was happening in all directions, every hour... It was a universal fantastic feeling that everything we were doing was right, and we were winning. We caught that magical moment; we were racing on the crest of a high and beautiful wave. And now, less than five years later, you can walk up a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and if your eyes are okay, you can almost see the high water level - the point where the wave finally breaks. breaks and rolls back.

Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

And finally, in 1973, it appeared best job writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. “I had an idea,” Thompson said, “to buy a thick notebook and record everything that happens to us, then send it to the publisher for publication - without editing." In the end, what began as pure "gonzo-journalistic" madness ended with the appearance of one of the most impressive novels of the second half of the twentieth century, and one one of the most truthful. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" became a cult book of Western youth, who liked the scheme proposed by Thompson - total hedonism, black humor, banter, intertwining violence and drugs. The writer acts as an ardent denouncer of the hypocrisy and cynicism of the establishment, which, in his opinion, coupled with the silence of the majority, killed the American Dream and turned it into cheap consumer goods, available to everyone at a reasonable price.

In the book, the author openly mourns the 60s, the times when people thought that they were able to change something, that The White house, Capitol Hill, sheriffs and district attorneys are not all of America. But it turned out that this was just an illusion, achieved with the help of drugs. The 70s meant the death of this illusion, but Thompson, despite all the categoricalness of his worldview, did not lose hope. Only often this hope is drowned out by the waves of madness that fill both the narrative and the entire life of the writer. As one of Hunter's acquaintances stated, "If all people suddenly went crazy, then Hunter Thompson would undoubtedly be the president of this huge mental hospital."

Hopeless Liberal

SHOT FROM THE FILM "FEAR AND HATE IN LAS VEGAS"

After releasing Fear and Loathing, Thompson lived in his house in Woody Creek for the next few years, periodically shocking the public with shots at sensation-hungry journalists and, of course, with new works. Another surge of interest in the creativity of writers occurred when he best book filmed by the famous British director Terry Gilliam. The main roles in the film are Raoul Duke, who is essentially the writer's alter-ego, and his lawyer, Dr. Gonza, played by Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. It must be said that the director superbly managed to recreate the atmosphere of the time described in the book, reviving the very spirit of the 60s. This contributed a lot to great selection songs performed by Bob Dylan, " Rolling Stones", Janis Joplin, " Jefferson Airplane"and other musicians.

“Political correctness didn’t exist when Hunter wrote Fear and Loathing, and I hope this film ends it,” says Terry Gilliam. “Everyone was afraid to say how they felt, afraid to live an extraordinary, unbridled and wild life, and the time has come to break these shackles. Hunter's novel reads like a war correspondent reporting from the front lines."

The fact that Thompson, a “hopeless liberal,” as he was called in the literary community, is still in demand today is evidenced by the fact that after the news of the writer’s death, sales of his books went up sharply. According to online retailer Amazon.com, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" rose to 15th place in sales. In total, nine of Thompson’s books were in Amazon’s top hundred. "Hell's Angels" and the collection of sports publications and sketches "Hey Rube: Bloodsport, the Bush Doctrine and the Downward Spiral of Wordlessness" took 37th and 39th places in it. Seven of Thompson's books are included in the Barnes & Noble ratings.

Like most, I was a seeker, a man of action, an oppositionist, and at times a stupid brawler. I shared with others the wanderer's optimism that the best would inevitably rise to the top. At the same time, I also shared the dark suspicion that the life we ​​lead is a hopeless enterprise, and that we are mere actors fooling ourselves in the process of a meaningless odyssey. It was the tension between these two poles - restless idealism, on the one hand, and a sense of inevitable doom, on the other - that kept me on my feet.

Hunter S. Thompson

Meanwhile, Shark Hunt remains himself even after death. As it became known, the writer’s ashes, according to his will, will be scattered with a cannon shot. According to rumors, during his lifetime the writer said more than once that he would like to go into eternity with an artillery salvo that would scatter his remains. “If this is what he wanted, then we will try to carry out his will,” said Douglas Brinkley. Thompson's farewell, according to his wife, will be held on March 5, and this summer there will be a "crazy and chaotic" memorial of "monumental proportions."

Perhaps the majority of “decent Americans”, who greedily absorb, in Thompson’s opinion, the surrogate of life that offers them government system, the writer will be remembered only as a person who was capable of not getting out of binges and acid hallucinations for days. But there must be those who, through the “fear and disgust”, will see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Although Thompson did not really believe in such a possibility.

"All these pathetically impatient acid freaks who believed that they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a dose. All their losses and defeats are at the same time our losses and defeats. What Leary (Timothy Leary - ideologist of the “acid” culture) took with me was the main illusion general image life that he tried to create... a generation of eternal cripples, fallen seekers who never understood the basic, old mystical delusion of the "Acid Culture": the hopeless assumption, the premise that someone - or at least some forces - will lead us to that Light at the end of the tunnel" ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas").

, USA