Richardson, Peter (Thompson, Hunter S.)

Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo

ISBN: 9780520304925
Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2021. First Edition. Hardcover. "More than five decades after the publication of his first bestselling book, Hunter S. Thompson remains a cultural icon. A steady stream of publications and films have told his remarkable story, several in detail. Most of these accounts- which feature his drug and alcohol consumption, gun fetish, and "fortified compound"- are centered in Woody Creek, Colorado, where Thompson lived from 1966 until his suicide in 2005. Although Thompson's books still find large audiences, his literary executor maintains that his greatest achievement was 'the collective work, and the fact that he created this one persona- the Hunter Figure- which is one of the great artistic creations of the 20th century.' Douglas Brinkley is certainly correct that Thompson's outlaw persona ensured his celebrity from the 1970s on. It also eclipsed his work and private identity...Studies of Thompson's literary formation are especially thin on the ground. What little commentary we have is split over how, when, and where he became the author who wrote the works. Although his literary formation was a lengthy process, the evidence suggests that it was largely a San Francisco story. Like Mark Twain a century earlier, Thompson arrived in the city as an obscure journalist, thrived on its anarchic energy, and left as a national figure. Raoul Duke, Thompson's narrator in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1972), famously reflects on that time and place. 'You could strike sparks anywhere,' Duke says. 'There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.' Five years later, Duke notes, the feeling was gone, but Thompson finally arrived." (from Introduction, pgs. 1-2) The first thing one encounters when approaching the actual substance of Peter Richardson's "Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson and the Weird Road to Gonzo" is the following epigraph, provided to us by none other than the book's immortal subject: "All this stuff avoids coming to the point that matters, which is what I turn out. Funny, I almost never get questioned about writing." That quote, from a 1987 interview with The Good Doctor, is the philosophical cornerstone on which the present work is built upon: An honest inquiry into The Making of Hunter S. Thompson AS A WRITER, shorn, largely and purposefully, of the drug-induced "colorations" that his "Chemical Life" (to quote W.H. Auden) brought to bear. The recent years have been incredible ones when it comes to contributions to the Thompson-focused scholarly literature, with Richardson's "Savage Journey" and Timothy Denevi's groundbreaking "Freak Kingdom: Hunter S. Thompson's Manic Ten-Year Crusade Against American Fascism" (2018) just two such works. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. With a section of captioned photographs. An essential resource for the Thompsonian collector-scholar in its rarest original form. Book in very fine condition with only a touch of wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; a few small instances of light rubbing at edges of text block; otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only areas of light, almost invisible rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #5188]

Price: $50.00