Hunter Thompson

[Alexander]

I think the reason some of us (myself included) are so surprised at Thompson's death is the same reason I was so shocked at Spalding Gray's suicide: Both Thompson and Gray wrote from an extremely subjective perspective. We imagined that we knew them, and that if they were depressed to the point of taking their own lives, they would've written about it. We forget that what Gray and Thompson did was create *characters* based upon themselves, much the same way Dante made himself the protagonist of his "Divine Comedy." We tend to listen to people who can say "I've been there." Gray and Thompson exposed their foibles in relentless detail, but they kept a great deal to themselves. Hunter was one of the great voices of his generation and his death leaves a void that will be difficult to fill. I certainly took for granted that he would continue to be out there, living life on the edge but always living to tell about it. But he leaves a brilliant legacy as a writer, and he inspired the creation of one of the greatest comic strip characters of our time. Thompson is gone, but Uncle Duke will live on! Funny though: Thompson's truth was always stranger than Duke's fiction...

Edited February 21, 2005 by Alexander

[Joe]

Alexander -- well put. Extremely well put.

Long live the persona!

[paul secor]

Saddened, but not surprised, at the news of his death.

I just reread his words on Richard Nixon's funeral in 'Better than Sex':

"If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.

These are harsh words for a man only recently canonized by President Clinton and my old friend George McGovern - but I have written worse things about Nixon, many times, and the record will show that I kicked him repeatedly long before he went down. I beat him like a mad dog with mange every time I got a chance, and I am proud of it. He was scum."

[randissimo]

I always pictured him settling gracefully into old age, maybe writing articles for Readers Digest and doing life insurance commercials like Art Linkletter.

On the contrary,, I think he was one of those people who just couldn't face old age..

[chris olivarez]

He wrote large. He lived large.RIP.

Edited February 21, 2005 by chris olivarez

[BFrank]

There's a bunch of stuff about him on the ESPN site. He had written a column there for the last few years.

Worth checking out: Goodbye, Good Doctor

[Lazaro Vega]

A head seamstress in red riding hood costume stitching together bombs with sports metaphors while ducking the door bell rung by dark suited strangers walking on hate tamped into the soles of their fbi shoes...

It is impossible to even try...thanks for the link....

Sorry for Anita....

Edited February 22, 2005 by Lazaro Vega

[AmirBagachelles]

Let's remember that before there was Jon Stewart, there were Doctor HST and many others, popularizing a more measured judgement of the press. We need to pay attention!!!

There should be some kind quotes coming forth this week from Ted Nugent and Rush Limbaugh, additional depraved bitterness to further the Doctor's work in years ahead. HST's suicide to me is a little like that of Abbie Hoffman, a very dark heads-up signal about the future, from a friendly agent.

[ghost of miles]

I always pictured him settling gracefully into old age, maybe writing articles for Readers Digest and doing life insurance commercials like Art Linkletter.

On the contrary,, I think he was one of those people who just couldn't face old age..

I think Randy T. agrees with you--his sarcasm is as dry as a fine wine (or something like that).

[porcy62]

HST's suicide to me is a little like that of Abbie Hoffman, a very dark heads-up signal about the future, from a friendly agent.

I had same feeling about dark signals at the start of eighties. Two mad men made an attempt to the lifes of Reagan and J. Lennon. Only one succeded. The wrong one.

Edited February 22, 2005 by porcy62

[BruceH]

I can't help thinking of Sonny Criss. I remember being puzzled by his suicide just when things seemed to be looking up for him. Then I found out that he had inoperable, and very painful, cancer. So Hunter Thompson may have had reasons we don't yet know about.

[Peter Johnson]

I can't help thinking of Sonny Criss. I remember being puzzled by his suicide just when things seemed to be looking up for him. Then I found out that he had inoperable, and very painful, cancer. So Hunter Thompson may have had reasons we don't yet know about.

Not to be morbid, but this was the first thought that crossed my mind...

[Quincy]

I can't help thinking of Sonny Criss.  I remember being puzzled by his suicide just when things seemed to be looking up for him.  Then I found out that he had inoperable, and very painful, cancer.  So Hunter Thompson may have had reasons we don't yet know about.

Not to be morbid, but this was the first thought that crossed my mind...

An article in the paper today by David Abel of the Boston Globe said he was experiencing chronic pain from various ailments over the years.

Back surgery, hip replacement surgery, and he recently broke his leg while in Hawaii. If he wasn't able to medicate the pain, it must have been pretty bad.

[chris olivarez]

The Rocky Mountain News also reported that. The Pitkin County sheriff's office is not saying at this time whether or not a note had been found.

[Jazzmoose]

A disturbing development., from BBC:

Thompson 'shot himself on phone'

Thompson had talked about killing himself, his widow said

The widow of US writer Hunter S Thompson has said her husband killed himself while they were speaking to one another on the telephone.

Thompson - best-known for his 1972 account of a drug-addled Nevada trip, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - shot himself on Sunday at his Colorado home.

His widow, Anita Thompson, 32, told the Aspen Daily News she heard the "clicking of the gun".

She said: "I was on the phone with him, he set the receiver down and did it."

He wanted to leave on top of his game

Anita Thompson, widow

Mrs Thompson said her husband had asked her to come home from a health club so they could work on his weekly column, but instead of saying goodbye, he shot himself.

She added that she heard a loud, muffled noise, but did not know what had happened.

"I was waiting for him to get back on the phone," she said.

Supportive

Thompson, who was a leading political journalist and one of the most important US authors of the 20th century, was found dead by his son, Juan.

The 67-year-old shot himself in the head in the kitchen while his son, daughter-in-law and six-year-old grandson were in the house.

Mrs Thompson told the newspaper her husband had repeatedly talked about killing himself in the months running up to his death.

He had also left verbal and written instructions about what he wanted done with his body, his unpublished works and his assets.

"He wanted to leave on top of his game. I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision," she added.

[Alexander]

The great American author William Kennedy was quite close to Thompson when they were both working out of Cuba. I wonder if Kennedy has made any public statements on Thompson's death...

[BFrank]

An appreciation on Charlie Rose tonight. Probably replaying some old interviews.

**That's pretty shocking that he would do something like that while on the phone with his wife.

[7/4]

[BFrank]

I was trying to figure out if that was a new cartoon or they were re-running an old "Duke" strip. Trudeau has been out recently with a broken collar-bone from a skiing accident.

[7/4]

I thought last weeks strips looked familiar.

[bertrand]

I thought today's was some sort of veiled reference to Thompson's death. Any ideas?

Bertrand.

[BFrank]

Turns out the references aren't so "veiled". This week's strips are new.

[BFrank]

Continued ...

[7/4]

Pertty wild...

[Peter Johnson]

heavy...