Hunter S Thompson Committs Suicide

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlate...4815089,00.html

Author Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself




Monday February 21, 2005 4:46 AM


AP Photo NY124

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of fictional journalism in books like ``Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,'' fatally shot himself Sunday night at his home, his son said. He was 67.

"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family,'' Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

Juan Thompson found his father's body. Thompson's wife, Anita, was not home at the time.

Besides the 1972 drug-hazed classic about Thompson's time in Las Vegas, he is credited with pioneering New Journalism - or ``gonzo journalism'' - in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story.

An acute observer of the decadence and depravity in American life, Thompson wrote such books as ``Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail'' in 1973 and the collections ``Generation of Swine'' and ``Songs of the Doomed.'' His first ever novel, ``The Rum Diary,'' written in 1959, was first published in 1998.

Other books include ``Hell's Angels'' and ``The Proud Highway.'' His most recent effort was ``Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and The Downward Spiral of Dumbness.''

 

Its really sad.
But he did have a good run at life, I think everyone would agree. I hope it wasn't suicide, I hope it was just an accident, because the pain such a strong person would need to be in to take their own life is tremendous.

 

He killed himself...Another great is gone...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4282865.stm

 

We can only guess at his motivations I suppose, suicide's something I'll never truly understand. One of the saddest, yet most selfish actions anyone can take. Still, there are times when a life ends, that it's a sad day not just for those who knew that person themselves, but for the rest of the world. Today is one of those days I think....

 

Are you so sure, Chief Inspector Japp? I believe he was murdered.

Murdered?

Yes, Hastings.

 

what did he do?

 

shot himself....

 

But can you be so sure, mon ami? If he had shot himself would be be holding ze gun in ze strange way like zat?

Use ze little grey cells...

 

All right Hercule, we bow to your frog like wisdom....

 

Fuck off, he's a Belgie!

 

Ben, you're such a dork!

 

the word, is PLONKER!

 

Plonker? Fine then...You're a plonker...

Though, I'll still call you a dork

 

Please, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a little disrespectful to the memory of the late great Hunter S. Thompson....

 

Well with respect to the late Mr Thompson, there are about 40 other threads with his name on them in this forum!

 

also with respect to the late Hunter S Thompson... yesterday was the first i'd ever heard of him...

 

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive..." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas."

(Hunter S Thompson, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas")

I suppose like many people these were the first words I read from Thompson. The opening paragraph of what seems to be becoming quite the classic book.

I thought the guy was great and was saddened to hear he'd shot himself. Picked up The Independent newspaper today who've put his passing on the front page. They have an interview with Ralph Steadman (Illustrator for Hunter's books and friend).

Apparently suicide was always gonna be how he died. "He didn't reckon he'd make it beyond 30 anyway..." says Ralph, "There was no first, second, third and top gear - just overdrive".

67 really was a hell of a run for such a man. God bless him and long live gonzo!

If you're interested, you can read his final article for ESPN here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=thompson/050216
Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray - Excellent!

RIP Mr Thompson

 

Young?

 

67 is pretty young considering you can live to be like 90.

 

You can? In a country where they have guns? Could have fooled me.

You say it as if most people do. Most men don't live to 80, so 67 is not really that far off.