Hunter S. Thompson – The Final Words
My, my, hecklerspray is in a literary mood today.
Not only have we regaled you with tales of Zadie Smith’s brilliant outbursts – all the while bobbing you on our knee like some benevolent cyber-uncle – but now we bring you something equally as astonishing.
Ladies and Gentleman – we present the final musings of Mr. Hunter S. Thompson.
Unless you’ve been living in a culturally-devoid cave – or Watford, to give it a proper name – you’ll be aware that Thompson (Books) took the tragic step of taking his own life earlier this year, depriving the world of a true Gonzo one-off. His funeral service then consisted of the fantastic spectacle of his ashes being blasted out of a huge booming cannon.
Now Thompson’s biographer – Douglas Brinkley – has revealed the content of Hunter’s suicide note. While ostensibly addressed to Thompson’s wife Anita, general consensus has it that the final epistle was a more a letter to himself.
Entitled Football Season Is Over, the composition – finished with the doodled flourish of a cartoon "happy heart" – runs as follows:
No More Games. No More bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming.
67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun — for anybody.
67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age.
Relax — This won’t hurt.
The note was apparently written a whole four days before the tragic event.
hecklerspray says: take care, Mr. Thompson. Wherever you may be.
Read more:
Apparent Hunter S. Thompson Suicide Note Published – Yahoo News
[story by C J Davies]
Juan Thompson and the Aspen Institute hosted a symposium on July 21, 2007 on the work of the late writer Hunter S. Thompson who created his own genre of writing with Gonzo Journalism and changed American political reporting forever with his book Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72.
Thirty-five years later journalists Carl Bernstein, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, Loren Jenkins of NPR, John Nichols of The Nation and others came together in a symposium moderated by Professor Douglas Brinkley to discuss the effect of Hunter’s work on political reporting and American politics.
The hour and half event is exclusively available at http://www.HunterThompsonFilms.com in nineteen clips of free, streaming video produced by Wayne Ewing.
Jennifer Erskine
Associate Producer