Thompson's methods … go beyond traditional fiction into those of more innovative art—techniques and styles tasting more of [Ronald] Sukenick and [Steve] Katz than of [Henry] Fielding and [William] Thackeray. Plus he identifies with (and even becomes a part of) the action more than does Tom Wolfe or most of the other New Journalists. Thompson calls his new style "Gonzo Journalism," and its effect discredits Wolfe's thesis that the techniques of recent fiction are inappropriate for the serious literature of our age.
Thompson began this style with Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga…. As he describes it, "By the middle of summer I had become so involved in the outlaw scene that I was no longer sure whether I was doing research on the Hell's Angels or being slowly absorbed by them." Yet Thompson maintains an interesting tension: despite his sympathy and identification with the Hell's Angels outrages, he constantly views them from a middle-class perspective. The values and sensibilities of Southern California's solid citizens are the backdrop for everything that Thompson has the outlaws do. If there is a literary style involved here, it's not that of [Honoré de] Balzac or [Anthony] Trollope, but of [F. Scott] Fitzgerald having Nick Carraway reserve judgment all the way until his final absorption into Gatsby. But as a SuperFictionist Thompson plays a tougher game than a Modernist character.
This is a free excerpt of 226 words. There are 1,367 words (approx.
5 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Thompson, Hunter S(tockton) 1939–: Critical Essay by Jerome Klinkowitz Access Pass.
