When you’re beginning to be a writer, one develops their own voice over time. The voice can be a kind of abstract concept, but perhaps another word we could use for it would be ‘style’. Structure, form, and language etc can come together and create a voice that is individual to the writer.
We are looking at Hunter S Thompson, (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005). Thompson was an American journalist and author, and the founder of the GONZO JOURNALISM movement. It was his own brand of New Journalism an experimental style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories, but also being “a detached observer of events being reported”(1). He has since become an important countercultural figure.
When Hunter S Thompson was beginning to write, he used to type out entire copies of famous works by great American writers like Fitzgerald and Hemingway in order to get a sense of the voice and emotion the authors were trying to convey. This inspiration and practice comes across in a lot of his works; appropriating parts of their voices and turning them into his own, original voice.
Hunter’s interests in writing are politics, known for hating Richard Nixon (he wrote an article “He Was A Crook”)(2), and his short novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as well as the original article it came from (3). We will be deconstructing elements of each of these texts and see what they have to offer in terms of voice.
Very descriptive, possibly overbearing with detail:
“Kissinger is a slippery little devil, a world-class hustler with a thick German accent and a very keen eye for weak spots at the top of the power structure.”
(Quote from He Was A Crook)
"A fantastic bike," I said. "The new model is something like two thousand cubic inches, developing 200 brake horsepower at 4000 revolutions per minute on a magnesium frame with two styrofoam seats and a total curb weight of exactly 200 pounds."
“To relax, as it were, in the womb of the desert sun. Just roll the roof back and screw it on, grease the face with white tanning butter and move out with the music at top volume, and at least a pint of ether.”
(Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas article)
In each of these examples, we can see that Hunter, instead of maybe setting the scene, focuses on one particular thing so vigorously that we can’t help but be completely focused on it as well. He is almost forcing intrigue and for the reader that can be very intense.
Even when using words plainly, they are ravished in verbs or adjectives, or descriptions about the aspects he’s trying to cover. In the first example, what we noticed that Hunter often uses 2-3 combinations of words, “slippery little devil”, “thick German accent”, which really help to characterise who he’s trying to talk about images images and sounds, as well as establishing a familiar rhythm for the text.
The next is just building up almost useless information about a vehicle maybe mocking America's tendency for material items, describing it almost like a salesperson, words almost echoing but not adding anything to our vision.
The use of heavy imagery helps the story transmit a great deal of emotion and helps the readers immerse themselves in the story. Hunter writes to not only narrate a bizarre adventure, but to make the reader feel as though they were there, experiencing reality breaking down alongside the protagonist, to the point where the scene makes as much sense to the narrator as it does to the reader.
Quite surreal, with quite vivid imagery that can be relatively/very unusual to the situation, as well as strange responses to those situations.
“I agreed. By this time the drink was beginning to cut the acid and my hallucinations were down to a tolerable level. The room service waiter had a vaguely reptilian cast to his features, but I was no longer seeing huge pterodactyls lumbering around the corridors in pools of fresh blood. The only problem now was a gigantic neon sign outside the window, blocking our view of the mountains -- millions of colored balls running around a very complicated track, strange symbols & filigree, giving off a loud hum....
"Look outside," I said.
"Why?"
"There's a big ... machine in the sky, ... some kind of electric snake ... coming straight at us."
"Shoot it," said my attorney.
"Not yet," I said. "I want to study its habits.”
(Quote from Fear and Loathing)
You can imagine that because they are on drugs in this book, this kind of language is only unique to Fear and Loathing, but it isn’t. It’s obvious that the way Hunter sees the world is quite differently to others, possibly due to the drugs that he personally took, but the voice and presence of surrealism and understanding of that it is present in anything that he writes. In this extract, there are strange images, like the waiter having reptilian figures, and pterodactyls, and electric snake - perhaps some of these are euphemisms for other things e.g. the electric snake could be a neon light. Nevertheless, he uses combinations of things that would not commonly be put together and synchronizes it quite smoothly, especially under the circumstances of drugs.
Hunter narrates a reality that is clearly distorted, but with the protagonist always seeming in control, interpreting the world around him with an almost sober perspective.There is never a clear sense of what is actually happening and what is being constructed out of the drug trip.
"Never mind. Let's get right to the heart of this thing. You see, about 24 hours ago we were sitting in the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel – in the patio section, of course – and we were just sitting there under this palm tree when this uniformed dwarf came up to me with a pink telephone and said, 'This must be the call you've been waiting for all this time, sir.'"
Constant shifts in chaos and control, paranoia and objectiveness. These trait makes his voice and characters feel unique and surreal.
(From the original article Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
Effective use of metaphor/simile:
“He had the fighting instincts of a badger trapped by hounds. The badger will roll over on its back and emit a smell of death, which confuses the dogs and lures them in for the traditional ripping and tearing action. But it is usually the badger who does the ripping and tearing. It is a beast that fights best on its back: rolling under the throat of the enemy and seizing it by the head with all four claws.”
The effective use of metaphor and simile help successfully transmit what the author feel towards Nixon, both emotionally and philosophically in one paragraph.The specific examples used as metaphors and similes also give the author a sense of authority. Since the examples came across clearly, the author must know what he is talking about and can be trusted.
Conclusion
Hunter S. Thompson was born in the perfect time. More than just writing about strange drug trips and corrupt politicians he used his voice to explore and express freedom in its most American sense,and tackled questions that an entire generation was asking. Hunter S Thompson’s voice perfectly reflects himself as a person: wild, incoherent both a raving madman and a wise sage.
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| “There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” |
Caesar, Claudia, it would have been great had you come to Richard Skinner's talk as discussed in my response to Megan and Tyler's post, as you have touched upon elements of voice which we broached yesterday. As you state here that you think that Hunter S Thompson's voice epitomises both himself and his contemporaries, to what extent do you feel that your own generation can use this thing we loosely call 'voice' to make explicit more political (and/or personal) agendas? You seem to be making a correlation between voice and social agency. Would you agree? And tell me more about how 'voice' relates to/equates to 'style'....
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