Bought this in the airport before flying to Joburg for a little disco and got stuck in on the plane. Ancient Gonzo Widsom is a book collection of all Hunter S. Thompson’s interviews, compiled by his wife Anita Thompson. Still busy reading it and just loving the insight into this man’s head- his crazy, abstract approach to life- and how he built up his career as a Political columnist in Rolling Stone Magazine- not that he gives a shit- but he broke new ground with his opinion-styled reporting. We studied up on him and the ‘New Journalists’ style of writing in college, it always fascinated me but hadn’t read any of his stuff- and keep getting asked if I read him and being lambasted when I said no! So thought it was time to get involved. I’m starting here- the behind the scene’s of his writing and persona- and then going to read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas after and get into his proper ’story-telling’ state of mind- can’t wait. Some bits I like below, will add more as I go. :)
On writing Hell’s Angels.
‘It took about 6 months. Actually it took about six months to write the first half of the book and then four days to write the second half. I got terrified about the deadline; I actually thought they were going to cancel the contract if I didn’t finish the book exactly on time. I was in despair over the thing, so I took the electric typewriter and about four quarts of Wild Turkey and just drove north on the 101 until I found a motel that looked Peaceful, checked in and stayed there for four days. Didn’t sleep, ate a lot of speed, went out every morning and got a hamburger at McDonald’s and just wrote straight through for four days– and that turned out to be the best part of the book.
On Gonzo Jouralism.
It was something that grew out of a story on the Kentucky Derby for Sanlan’s magazine. It was one of those horrible deadline scrambles and I ran out of time. I was desperate. Ralf Steadman had done the illustrations, the cover was printed and there was this horrible hole in the interviews. I was convinced I was finished, I had blown my mind and couldn’t work. So finally I just started jerking pages out my notebook and numbering them and sending them to the printer. I was sure it was the last article I was ever going to do for anybody. Then when it came out, there were massive numbers of letters, phone calls, congratulations, people calling it a giant ‘breakthrough in journalism.’ And I thought, ‘Holy shit, if I can write like this and get away with it, why should I keep trying to write like the New York Times?’ It was like falling down an elevator shaft and landing in a pool full of mermaids.
On what isn’t written.
All the best stories are unwritten. More and more I find that I can’t tell the whole truth about events. I have one book I’d like to write and the rest will have to be done to pay the fucking rent. That’ll be the one where there’ll be no questions if anybody’s lying. Well, there will be some question, but the truth is usually a lot weirder than anything you can make up. I’ll make sure it dooms as many people as possible- an absolutely true account, including my own disaster and disappearances. To hell with the American Dream. Let’s write if off as suicide.
On the 90’s.
Now we are being herded into the 90’s, which lokks like it is going to be a true generation of swine, a decade run by cops and wardens- a generation without humour, without mercy, dead horses and diminished expectations, a decade that will go down in history as the Gray Area. At the end of this decade no one will be sure of anything except that you must obey the rules, sex will you, politicians lie, rain is poison, and the world is run by whores. These are terrible things to know in your life, even if you’re rich. A doomsday kind of thinking has taken over the media, as it has business and politics: ‘I’m going to turn you in son- not only for your own good, but because you were the bastard who turned me in last year.’
On journalists.
The media perception of me has always been pretty broad. As broad as the media itself. As a journalist, I somehow managed to break all the rules and still succeed. It’s a hard thing for most of today’s gentleman journalists to understand, but only because they can’t do it. The smart ones understood immediately. The best people in journalism I never had any quarrel wit. I am a journalist and I’ve never met, as a group, any tribe I’d rather be a part of or that are more fun to be with- in spite of the various punks and sycophants of the press. I’m proud to be part of that tribe.
Douglas Coupland is one one of my favourite authors and I first read one of his novels 
