“It is from the bystanders (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is not worth living, that life is drudgery, that the ambitions of youth must he laid aside for a life which is but a painful wait for death. These are the ones who squeeze what excitement they can from life out of the imaginations and experiences of others through books and movies. These are the insignificant and forgotten men who preach conformity because it is all they know. These are the men who dream at night of what could have been, but who wake at dawn to take their places at the now-familiar rut and to merely exist through another day. For them, the romance of life is long dead and they are forced to go through the years on a treadmill, cursing their existence, yet afraid to die because of the unknown which faces them after death. They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences.”
Favourite books of his?
>>7465062
>taking life lessons on the worthiness of living from someone who shot himself in the head
>mfw i'm getting more and more open to the thought of suicide even when my "life" seems to be getting more "promising". It almost seems god-damn logical.
>>7465062
>Favourite books of his?
I smiled.
>assuming dying is any less living than nihilism
>>7465347
Nihilism doesn't exist. Death does. Get educated.
Honestly probably Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, but probably because that's the latest that I've read and by the time I read it I was way more in to reading again (hadn't read much at all since early highschool), and was just a fan of Hunter in general and more familiar with his style and character..
So far this is what I've read and in order of reading from first to last
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Kingdom of Fear
Hell's Angels
The Rum Diary
Campaign trail
I think I will revisit Hells Angels, Vegas and Kingdom of Fear sometime over the next couple of years as I think I'll get a lot more out of them now that I love Hunter.
What's yours OP?
>>7465062
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas
Fuck I love Hunter S Thompson
>>7465361
also just as an add on, I am Australian and so most of the American political lingo and jargon used in Campaign Trail confused the fuck out of me to start with, so in a sense it was a good learning experience. The book was great and played out like a novel though, obviously with the political campaign being the overarching plot, but laced with hilarious stories from Hunter throughout and the development (and deterioration) of his relationships with women/other reporters/political sponsors etc
>>7465062
The Great Shark Hunt, hands down. Best Thompson for your buck, has all the classics plus excerpts from both Fear and Loathings IIRC.
>>7465206
>shooting himself in the head because he was no longer able to live life as proposed in the excerpt written at 17
>>7465734
>coward
>>7465355
Thats really silly of you to say that, ya big ol sily ha ha somebodys silly ha
>>7465370
same desu senpai
>>7465206
But his funeral was more entertaining than anything you'll ever post on an image board
>>7465206
>For them, the romance of life is long dead and they are forced to go through the years on a treadmill, cursing their existence, yet afraid to die because of the unknown which faces them after death. They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences
Comprehend?
The Rum Diary. It drips with romance and cuckoldry and I would be lying if deep down it didn't inspire me to become a journalist.
I'm reading The Rum Diary right now. It's my first foray into his work and I'm enjoying it immensely, although you can tell it's his first attempt at a novel. >>7467145 is 100% correct when he says that it makes you want to be a journalist, though.
>>7467145
Did someone say The Rum Diary?
>>7467179
Someone did say The Rum Diary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YodZUWs-aUQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrOhvSvKIhc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QoKqEHS8s
>>7466275
So you are agreeing he's right.
>>7467244
https://www.popuparchive.com/collections/938/items/39745
That's the full interview. I always find it interesting listening to the way authors speak in conversation. Reading and listening to Hunter, i've always found him to be extremely humble underneath all of the fame, drugs and portrayal of character.
MH: When you were starting out, when you were eighteen and you started writing these letters in The Proud Highway, did you think your work would ever be considered classic?
HST: I never sat down and thought about it and stared at it. Obviously, if you read The Proud Highway, I was thinking somewhere along those lines. I never lobbied the Modern Library to include more living writers. I've always assumed it was for dead writers. But what I did assume at that time, early on and, shit, every year forever after that, was that I would be dead very soon. The fact that I'm not dead is sort of puzzling to me. It's sort of an awkward thing to deal with.
