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In the last month two new Thompson titles have
hit shelves. The first, Screwjack, isn’t even really a
book, coming in at 59 pages, with rather large print.
It begins with a piece written during Thompson’s
first encounter with mescaline (‘Mescalito’ is also
reprinted in Songs Of The Doomed) , which would
become his drug of choice, and it only gets less understandable
from there. The second piece is the tale
of a doomed gambler, and the third, the infamous title
piece, is almost too bizarre for words, dealing with
a love affair between Raoul Duke and Screwjack the
cat. Interesting, but probably not worth 15 dollars,
unless you are the type of person who simply must
have this sort of literary curio.
The second book, Fear And Loathing In America,
Thompson’s second volume of letters, is, unlike
Screwjack, a must read. This book, the penultimate
volume of a projected three volume set is, if you are
going to buy one, the one to buy. Fear And Loathing
In America reprints Thompson’s correspondence from
1968, after the publication of his first book, Hell’s
Angels, through 1976, when the Great Gonzo Legend
had become fully established.
The letters themselves aren’t as interesting as the ones
found in The Proud Highway, but that is to be expected.
During the years covered in Thompson’s first volume of
letters he was, for the most part, unemployed, and had
more time to dedicate to his personal correspondence.
The beginning of America finds Thompson in a post
Hell’s Angels funk that lasts for over 300 pages. During
that time the Doctor wrestles with unfinished articles,
a book contract, and attempts to find a new direction to
take in the New Journalism.
At times, especially during its first third, is tedious.
No one, especially someone who writes, wants
to read about another writer’s lack of direction, no
matter how much he or she respects that particular
writer. Thompson spends a lot of time agonizing over
a book he is supposed to write about “The Death of
the American Dream,” As it turns out, Thompson
considers Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas a side
project, and not his American Dream book, which
posterity has shown it to be.
As the book progresses, however, it becomes more
interesting, showing Thompson’s creation of his public
persona, the character on the front of the paperback edition
of Vegas trying to sneak out of a hotel with a suitcase
full of drugs and some serious unpaid bills, and the
subsequent discomfort that Thompson suffered when
he became forever confused with one of Ralph Steadman’s
drawings. F&L in America shows Thompson for
what he really was, a workaholic writer with a brutal
sense of humour who has an affinity for recreational
drug use, and not a full-time addict who occasionally
became lucid enough to write articles.
The most interesting disclosure in the book is the fact
BUY Hunter S. Thompson books online from and
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