When I first read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, a drug-fueled odyssey, it blew my mind! I hadn’t read anything like it!
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Doctor Gonzo, as they arrive in Las Vegas to chase the illusive American Dream through a drug-induced haze.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous book and is noted for its lurid descriptions of illicit drug use. Hallucinations are everywhere! In addition to the warped Reality in this book, Thompson delivers a plenty of comedy.
Illustrated by Ralph Steadman, the novel first appeared as a two-part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971 before being published in book form in 1972. It was later adapted into a film of the same title in 1998 by director Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, who portrayed Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, respectively.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas hit me like a bolt of lightning back in 1971. I was familiar with Hunter S. Thompson’s writings in Rolling Stone, but nothing prepared me for the drug carnage in the pages of this novel. While high on almost every page of this book, Raoul Duke and Doctor Gonzo explore the state of America in the early Seventies and analyze the political and social actions of the 1960s. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas can be read for the comic situations, but there’s a serious side to this book, too. This is an American literary classic! Have you read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? GRADE: A
Oddly enough, the writer Thompson most reminds me of is Don DiLilo, in that I find the only way to read them is very fast, allowing the sense of the words to wash over you. If you read either of them slowly, trying to parse meaning or savor the story, the whole thing becomes incomprehensible.
Deb, you are so right! Hunter S. Thompson and Don DeLillo need to be read fast or their stories turn into word salads!
Not so much a book as an experience; once gone through, never forgotten.
And as a loosely-related note, I should add that we owe experiences like this to our love of reading and our capacity for it.
Dan, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS stands as a unique reading experience. I was stunned by its effects back in 1971.
Like you, I read it back in the early ’70s, after reading about his ride with the Hell’s Angela. It was definitely the high point (so to speak) of Gonzo journalism.
Jeff, Hunter S. Thompson broke new ground in writing!
Angels
“You are posting too quickly. Slow down.”
Screw you, Typepad!
Typepad hostility might be why you have so many problems with Patti’s Blogspot. (Blogspot having its Own Issues.)
I have never read it through, but instead excerpts, while reading some of his other books/collections. Some later Thompson goes a long way.
Todd, you’re right about the later Hunter S. Thompson. I suspect the alcohol and drugs were taking their toll on him.
Yes, I read it ages ago and loved it! I’m not sure a rereading at my advanced age would give me the same kick it did back then!
Bob, I found the energy in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS just as high-octane as when I first read it in 1971!
No mention of Duke from DOONESBURY? Strange.
And of Yawn, his editor at ROLLING STONE (in D as in life)…I’ve been more of a POGO mindset this week…
Jackie Kashian discusses POGO and other related (and unrelated, such as Bill Maher) matters with Adam Felber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljmlzu7JieY
https://www.vulture.com/2023/11/barbenheimer-movie-charles-band-release-date-details.html Felber and his firend Charles Band of the cheesy movie production career are going forward with BARBENHEIMER the film.
Jerry, you’re right about Hunter S. Thompson moonlighting on DOONESBURY from time to time.