Fear and Loathing

NRO ^ | 22 February 2005 | Austin Ruse

[E Rocc]

It took the DUmmies all of five minutes to conclude that he was murdered on the orders of Karl Rove.

True, but their parents all ate the brown acid.

-Eric

[Joann37]

Same here. I never heard of the guy, and I keep wondering about this "Gonzo" stuff they're all talking about. I looked up gonzo, and it apparently just means unconventional or exaggerated. Whatever.

[chadwimc]

Is it just me or are all writers nuts???

[Question_Assumptions]

The sound you keep hearing the the sound of the Baby Boomers realizing that they are mortal and the things they once cared so much about just don't matter to the young people who came after them.

[DrampireXIV]

"He was a man who made positively no apparent sense in his writing - except to tell us that life was a bizarre and uncanny thing that could truly bite in you in the butt when you least expected it. I hope God enjoys Hunter a lot."

There he goes.. one of god's own prototypes.. a higher powered mutant never even considered for mass production.. too wierd to live, too rare to die.

[skip_intro]

Who is Austin Ruse?

[CatoRenasci]

I've followed Thompson's work for years, ever since reading Hell's Angels when in came out, and then his stuff in Rolling Stone. Saw him live a couple of times over the years, including one appearance (in '70 or '71) at UC Santa Barbara, where he was absolutely stoned and drunk on stage. Several exceptionally attractive coeds had volunteerd their availabilty and the party afterwards at the Biltmore, where Thompson insisted on being put up, was pretty debauched according to those who were there.

[Squawk 8888]

I think it's a prerequisite.

[hsalaw]

If you don't know who Thompson was, you are missing. . . . absolutely nothing. Clamor without content, as I read somewhere else, best describes his "work."

[RobRoy]

I'm 51. When I first heard of his suicide, my thoughts were that the name sounded familiar.

That was about it.

[GRANGER]

His work will not be forgotten. A hundred years from now, Thompson may be seen as the Thoreau of the late 20th century.

So behave that the odor of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere, that when we behold or scent a flower, we may not be reminded how inconsistent your deeds are with it; for all odor is but one form of advertisement of a moral quality, and if fair actions had not been performed, the lily would not smell sweet. The foul slime stands for the sloth and vice of man, the decay of humanity; the fragrant flower that springs from it, for the purity and courage which are immortal. -- Henry David Thoreau

[Hemingway's Ghost]

"his work will be forgotten."

Probably rite.

Probably wrong, actually. He, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Tom Wolfe, Susan Orlean, Joseph Mitchell, and a handful of extremely talented writers throughout the late 1960s-early 1970s changed the way we look at long-form non-fiction to this very day.

[NonLinear]

Hell's Angels was an interesting read. The tone changed decidedly after they stomped him. Prior to that it was all great fun, and they were really pretty good guys overall. Afterwards, they were not on as high of a pedestal.

[the OlLine Rebel]

IOW he and it are another set of fringe-sect icons which the vast majority couldn't care less about even in his day - hence no1 else even hears about it. Kind of like "the Smiths" being a great '80s band. Yeah, whatever!

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I never heard of the guy, and I keep wondering about this "Gonzo" stuff they're all talking about. I looked up gonzo, and it apparently just means unconventional or exaggerated. Whatever.

Thompson used to be a sports writer. He was sent to the desert to write a piece about a dune buggy race, but he was so stoned, drunk, and screwed up, the copy he eventually turned in had little to do with the race, and lots to do with the Doctor's inability to cover the story due to the "hardships" (self-imposed and otherwise) he faced along the way. The editor published it as-is, and a new form of "journalism" was discovered.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Who is Austin Ruse?

Based on this piece, Mr. Sour Grapes 2005.

[NutCrackerBoy]

His work will not be forgotten.

For some reason, I whipped out a Richard Brautigan book last night and read parts of Trout Fishing in America and In Watermelon Sugar. Another beat/druggie writer who committed suicide.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Norman Mailer, Truman Capote - the only 1s I've at least even heard of, much less know something about.

[the OlLine Rebel]

But still, what is this word? How did it even come about?

[45Auto]

Hunter S - doing what we'de all like to do - occasionally - with an assortment of machinery