Wednesday, September 24, 2014

I'd never read Fear and Loathing before, but I've always wanted to and I can definitely see why it's talked about in the tone it is. The closest thing to Hunter S. Thompson I've read before was part of a comic series called Transmetropolitan, which is more or less just Thompson in the future dealing with politics of the future, but still relating them back to modern issues in it's own way. That was really the only thing I needed to know that I should read Fear and Loathing.
I really liked his writing style as a whole. It reminded me of a Hubert Selby Jr. quote I read once, "Keep your balls out of your writing." And it really does that. There's no sense of pride, nothing is built up to feel crazy epic, it's all just very nonchalant. My favorite example being at the very beginning when the drugs start kicking in and he's hallucinating, "No point mentioning
those bats, I thought. The poor bastard will see them soon enough." Things are that straight forward throughout the entire thing. There really aren't a whole lot of flowery language, nothing is made to sound cool or really does anything to set a tone, which in it's own way sets it's own tone if that makes any sense. And I really liked that approach. It didn't have to try but still felt well thought out and authentic. The interaction with the hotel clerk even seemed awkward on paper (even if he hadn't seen her face change, it still wouldn't have been the most conventional conversation ever). Not really sure why that minor part stuck out at me other than I feel like I've probably been the clerk in this conversation before for someone else.

3 comments:

  1. "There's no sense of pride, nothing is built up to feel crazy epic, it's all just very nonchalant

    I didn't think about that when I was reading or writing about it, but you are so true. He just tells the story as is, with no fluff or filler to enhance the moment. That kind of enhances it on its own, by only reading the facts, the situation at hand.

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  2. I think you are right about writing about the situation on hand I don't know about the facts part though. How much is true in a drug induced state. He does call it as he sees it though.

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  3. Zac,
    I think his background as a journalist definitely helps him create this style, and it is one of the really interesting elements of this text. He really blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction in some interesting ways. He doesn't have "flowery language," but he is using literary techniques alongside journalistic ones.

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