9 Comments:

February 21, 2005 10:45 AM,  Kerouaced said...

That bastard still had a lot of good writing left in him. It's a damn shame. He was very private so I don't know if he had some hideous illness or he just got sick of all the bullshit. Now the hacks are closing in, taking over the Ny Times best seller list with prose that is so bleached that I can't even make it through five pages of their books before I give up and douse them with gasoline and watch them burn. Yes, RIP Hunter, there will never be another like you.

 

February 21, 2005 11:10 AM,  Other Brother said...

"We can't stop here, man. This is bat country."

RIP Hunter S. Thompson

 

February 21, 2005 1:36 PM,  if_i_had_a_hammer said...

the english language lost one of its most rebelious voices.

RIP Doc.

 

February 21, 2005 2:12 PM,  Bookfraud said...

thanks for pointing out the loss -- a pioneer and genius, the likes of which we won't see again. "Fear and Loathing in L.V." remains the ur-text for gonzo, one of my favorites.

i don't know what possessed Hunter to kill himself, but why someone who was so talented and had so much left in him pops himself is unanswerable, I guess.(see Iris Chang).

and yeah, it's hacks-ahoy on the best-seller lists.

 

February 21, 2005 3:32 PM,  Dave Morris said...

Being in the business of radio, I honor a maverick by remembering his most fitting quote:

"The radio business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."

RIP my man...

 

February 21, 2005 4:20 PM,  Bottle Rocket Fire Alarm said...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/docbrite/

This is Poppy Z Brite's site. She's a good horror writer. I enjoyed Lost Souls a lot when I read it ten years ago or so.

She met Thompson about a month ago and he was in bad physical shape. I think her entries about him lend a little insight into why he'd check out this way.

 

February 21, 2005 6:27 PM,  Kerouaced said...

Interesting, it does appear he was in pretty bad physical shape. Thanks for pointing out those enteries by Poppy Z Brite.

 

February 21, 2005 11:19 PM,  Latigo Flint said...

"...and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark -- that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

 

February 22, 2005 12:26 PM,  Bookfraud said...

There's a great, heartfelt HST tribute by tom Wolfe, of all people, in the Wall St. Journal, of all places. Wolfe called him "the (20th) century's greatest comic writer in the English language," which I guess is a compliment. Wolfe and Thompson were bros in arms in redefining journalism, so I guess it's appropriate...

 

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