By Acadia Otlowski
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream,” was a novel written by Hunter S. Thompson in 1971, written in a style which he called Gonzo journalism. This type of writing blends fact and fiction at the will of the written in lieu of traditional forms of journalism, which Thompson complained could not be as objective as it claimed.
Thompson based the novel off of two trips that he and his attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, took to Las Vegas in 1971. The book is semi-autobiographical, written from Thompson’s personal notebook. He blends fact and fiction together, combining a trip covering the races (which was in fact a cover for an expose piece for Rolling Stone) and a trip to National District Attorneys Association’s Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, both of which are featured in the novel.
By the time Thompson attended the conference, Rolling Stone had tentatively accepted the novel-length, Fear and Loathing, based off the first trip, for publication in the magazine. After the initial 2,500 word draft was rejected, Thompson combined his experiences from the two trips, setting them inside what Thompson called “an essentially fictional framework.”
The story was placed in Rolling Stone, where it was divided into two parts. The very next year, Random House published a hardcover version of the novel, which was called by The New York Times, “by far the best book yet on the decade of dope.”
The book is hard to follow, often requiring the reader to backtrack due to the odd layout of the book and heavily loaded language. There is so much content contained in some sentences, that if one skims over a few lines believing that they are irrelevant, it is possible to miss crucial plot points.
There are times when the reader is lost, due to the drug-addled nature of the writing. It is tremendously clear that some points of the book are direct transcripts from Thompson’s notebook, containing language and information that are irrelevant or confusing.
In the book, there is little logic and it accurately portrays a mind that is under the influence of illicit substances. There is little plot- more of a meandering tale that only makes sense to the mind that is on drugs.
I found the narrative style interesting and as a student of journalism, I found Gonzo journalism to be an interesting story-telling tool, though I subscribe to the traditional two-sided, fact only model.
There is quite a bit of humor in the novel, ranging from imaginary digressions in which the paranoid mind of the main character creates scenarios where they get in trouble with various authorities. Also, I enjoyed the fact that they attend a conference which is attended by cops. The very irony of this is almost too good to be true. But there is documented proof that the pair did go to such a conference and it appears that they were under the influence at the time.
The main character, whose name was apparently Raoul Duke, but he sometimes refers to himself as Thompson, criticized speakers at the conference, thinking vehemently that the speaker’s statements were completely inaccurate and false.
Between the two trips that the pair takes, there is no indication of the time that has passed, representative of the way time passes from the perspective of a perpetually drug-addled person.
I really enjoyed this book, and found it very similar to the movie, which I viewed first. I thought the perspective was interesting and the unique take that Thompson makes on journalism makes it a must read for students interested in alternative forms of journalism.
