All right Eggy. You've bought the ticket. Now prepare to take the ride!
In 1965, journalist Hunter S. Thompson infiltrated the ranks of an outlaw motorcycle gang known as the Hells Angels. Two years later, he published a book about the time he spent with them in Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga. The book is divided into four parts, Roll em, boys, The Making of the Menace, 1965, The Hoodlum Circus and the Statutory Rape of Bass Lake and The Dope Cabala and a Wall of Fire. No one had first-hand knowledge of the Angels when this book was published. The only knowledge everyday people had of the Angels were rumors and legends of the gang rolling into a town on their motorcycles and leaving it in shambles when they left.
Thompsons book gave people insight into the workings of the Angels in a way that had not been done before. Thompson brought the Angels to the public by immersing himself into their ranks as only a literary journalist could. The narrative is not fueled by the manic drug-and-alcohol-induced ravings of his Gonzo journalism style that was first realized in the 1970 article The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved and which he became famous for in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. Nevertheless, readers can detect a hint of Thompsons Gonzo style just below the surface of Hells Angels.
Literary journalismalso known as creative fictionis used to communicate information
but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction. Literary critic Barbara Lounsberry outlined four characteristics of literary journalism in her book The Art of Fact. Each of these characteristics of literary journalism are present in Hells Angels as well as in most of Thompsons other works. The first characteristic of literary journalism is documentable subject matter chosen from the real world as opposed to invented from the writers mind. While Thompson has been known to invent some things in the name of hyperbole, the Hells Angels were a well-documented phenomenon before his book was published. (Lounsberry) (Gutkind)
The second characteristic is exhaustive research. Reading only a chapter in Hells Angels shows that Thompson did his homework; he researched the Angels for nearly two years. Thompsons attention to detailed research is present in his other writings as well. (Gutkind)
The third characteristic deals with resetting the scene. This deals with describingin great detailwhat happened so the readers can experience what the author witnessed. Both literary journalists and straight journalists do this. Literary journalists are allowed to interject some opinion as opposed to the objective style of straight journalists where opinion is greatly discouraged. The final characteristic is having fine writing or a literary prose style. This last characteristic is what makes Thompsons works so unique. His style is instantly recognizable even without the raging madness of Gonzo in full force. (Gutkind)
Douglas Brinkley, Thompsons biographer and editor, said of Hells Angels, Its straight journalism, but its participatory. A straight journalist without a participatory prose could not write the story of the Hells Angels the way Thompson did. One reason is that the national press of the 1960s was propagating rumors of the Angels instead of trying to get any kind of truth out about them. It is ironic that so-called straight journalists were supporting popular beliefs and typing up rumors as fact instead of objectively investigating. It took Thompsons subjective literary style to cover the Angels. Perhaps the reason the Angels and Thompson fit together so well is that they are both examples of the counterculture of the time. That does not mean it was always a smooth trip for Thompson or that he agreed with the Angels beliefs but he understood why their existence was necessary. His opinion of the Angels is evident throughout the book in his tone and his use of language. (Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson)
Thomas C. Lynch, the Attorney General of California, came out with a report in 1965 that painted the Angels as felons with convictions ranging from terrorizing locals to stealing motorcycle parts. The Lynch report also stated that both members and female associates seem badly in need of a bath. This report is probably the best example of evidence that the Hells Angels were not created from Thompsons yet-untwisted mind. The Angels were so terrifying that Attorney General Lynch had to write a report to tell people all about the Angels. (Thompson)
Thompson was not the only one writing about the Angels either. On the last page of Hells Angels where Thompson offers his thanks, three books are listed that have Hells Angels in their titles and there is one that deals with motorcycles. To this day, some of the Angels still remember Thompson. Sonny Barger said Thompson was one of the greatest writers America will ever have. He also said, Doesnt mean he isnt a jerk in my eyes but hes a very good writer. (Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson)
Another thing that proves that Thompson was a good literary journalist was the research he did on the Hells Angels and on subjects that were directly linked with the outlaws. Completely setting aside the overwhelming facts that he spent almost two years with the Angels and the footnotes that clump at the bottom of every other page, it is clear to readers that Thompson did a lot of other research about the Angels. In a review from The New York Times printed in 1967, Leo E. Litwak recalls how Thompson traces their origins to the Okies and Arkies and hillbillies who migrated to California during the Depression. (Litwak)
From his research, Thompson is also able to reproduce rape stats from the early 1960s when he discusses how often the Angels are involved in the act. California averages more than 3,000 reported cases of forcible rape every yearor almost three a day. He researched other outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Satans Slaves and their legendary leader, Smackey Jack. According to the interviews he conducted, Smackey Jack was outta sight and hed run wild for three or four days on pills and wine. Regardless of the validity of the legend of Smackey Jack, having this information certainly adds to the book and that is something that good research should do. The same is true when Thompson describes the police formation when the Hells Angels attacked a Get Out of Vietnam demonstration. They were deployed in a flying wedge formation, he says of the way the police were organized. Whatever the difference is between a flying wedge formation and just having the police stand in a line, Thompson was able to recognize the difference and use his detailed research to reset the scene for his readers. (Thompson)
When resetting the scene, Thompson often uses strong verbs. The morning of the Angels July Fourth run was blazing. He does not just drive across a bridge; he drives across a fog-shrouded bridge into the vortex of the menace of the Angels. In other instances, Thompson capitalizes words like Menace. He does it again when he describes the gathering of the Hells Angels beyond the tollbooths in Oakland, calling the sight a Dread Spectacle. He often capitalizes words for emphasis. Without using adjectives to describe the menace, Thompson conveys to the reader that whatever the menace is it is truly spectacular in a horrifying sense. This gives the Angels as a whole a kind of character. This is also an example of the classic journalistic rule of show-dont-tell. Thompson has an obvious mastery of this rule because by saying only one wordalbeit capitalizedhe tells the reader so much about the presence the Angels have. (Thompson)
Throughout the book, he continues to refer to the Angels as the Menace but near the end of the book, he calls them a menace but keeps the word in the lowercase. This could be seen as symbolic of his own experience with the Angels. When he started writing and living with the Angels, all he had were rumors, legends and the Lynch report to form his opinions. After running with them for over a year, they were no longer terrifying in the same sense that they had been at the beginning of the book.
For Thompson, resetting the scene and using fine writing often go hand in hand. One of the more obvious examples of resetting the scene is when Thompson talks about his wardrobe and how it sets him apart from the Hells Angels. I was wearing Levis, Wellington boots from L. L. Bean in Maine, and a Montana sheepherders jacket over a white tennis shirt. A writer who is less concerned with resetting the scene might have simply written: I was wearing jeans, boots, a t-shirt and a jacket. Thompson goes further. He names the brand of boots and from which state they were purchased. A few lines after this sentence, Thompson shows what a keen eye he has for observation and how knowledgeable he is about guns. I could see that [the cops] pistol was a short-barreled Smith & Wesson .357 Magnumpowerful enough to blow holes in [a] BSA cylinder head, if necessarybut at arms length it hardly mattered. The gun was a killer at any range up to a hundred yards, and far beyond that in the hands of a man who worked at it. (Thompson)
Another example of Thompsons fine writing is his word choice. Many times Thompson uses words that have a great sound when they are spoken. Boggled, swivet, flotsam, smörgasbord, bugaboo and shore nuff in lieu of sure enough are just some of the words Thompson uses to enrich his writing. One of the best examples of Thompsons fine writing is when he quotes a section of the song A World of Our Own. He does not just quote it for the sake of making a timely reference. He quotes it to relate it to the Angels. The song made the whole scene jell.
At first it seemed like just another teen-age pipe dream with a good swinging beat
and then, sweet Jesus, it dawned on me that I was right in the middle of it, with a gaggle of righteous dudes that no man could deny. (Thompson)
When he goes on the first beer run, Thompson could taste the dust that hung over the parking area. He compares the Angels to werewolves and talks about transmogrification as if it is a real science. When he writes about this, it is arguably one of the most amusing passages of the book. He mentions a bird being able to transform itself and says that werewolves and Hells Angels are the only other animals who share this talent. The physical resemblance is obvious, but far more important is the transmogrification factor, the strange ability to alter their own physical structure, and hence disappear. He brings this up in connection with a motorcycle riot in Laconia, New Hampshire. Eight different newspapers had varying totals of arrests. The New York Daily News had the highest estimate with more than 100 and the New York Herald Tribune had the lowest with only 29. It took seven weeks until the Associated Press got the right number but it was never printed. Thompson found that the Laconia District Court records showed 32 arrests. While this is an example of fine writing, it is also another example of how straight journalists were propagating rumors of the Angels and it highlights all the research Thompson did for his book. (Thompson)
Thompson makes use of simile and metaphor extensively. This is one of the main features of literary writing and using it in a journalistic piece elevates it to the level of literary journalism. At one point, he compares the Angels to a band of pirates and Genghis Khan. Other times he says they are a human zoo on wheels. In one instance he says,
it was not long before the camp [of the Hells Angels] became like an animal pen. When he is illustrating the relationship between the Angels and motorcyclists in the American Motorcycle Association, he says that the relationship between the two is not quite as venomous as that of owls and crowswho will attack each other on sightbut the basic attitudes are not much different. When a young boy wanders into the Angels camp, Thompson observes how he looks juxtaposed to one of the Angels. Together they looked like figures in some ominous painting, a doomsday portrait of the human animal confronting itself
as if a double-yolked egg had hatched both a chicken and a wildebeest. Clearly, Thompson has a handle on simile and metaphor. (Thompson)
Thompson definitely has what Lounsberry calls a literary prose style. Every well-crafted sentence says what it needs to completely and concisely. This is no doubt a leftover habit from his days as a reporter and it serves him well. At one point, Thompson writes, Donna, a stocky, good-natured brunette who came north with the exodus from Berdoo once put the whole thing in a nut. Everybody believes in something, she said. Some people believe in God. I believe in the Angels. There is nothing overly special in those 37 words but they could be structured that way in a newspaper today. They are highlighted here because, while Thompson is known for much more lavish writing than this, he is still capable of writing like a straight journalist. (Thompson)
Brian Williams once called Thompson a giant of the written word. After reading Hells Angels, there is no denying that claim. Still, as far as fine writing is concerned, it does not get much better than the last two chapters of the book. Particularly when Thompson describes riding a motorcycle. He inserts the readers into the event by using the second person You. This allows the readers to experience what he is describing as if it had happened to them personally. Writers seldom use second person because it has the potential to fail. Thompson charges ahead with it, ignoring what a straight journalist would do. In fact, all of Lounsberrys criteria for being a good literary writer are present in the last two paragraphs of the last chapter of the book. (Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson)
But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right
and thats when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see at a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears
. You watch the white line and try to lean with it
letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge
The Edge
There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over
. But the edge is still Out there. Or maybe its In. The association of motorcycles with LSD is no accident of publicity. They are both a means to an end, to the place of definitions. (Thompson)
Hunter S. Thompsons Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga is an important book for anyone studying literary journalism. Thompson showed that he was well-educated and did not shy away from learning and immersing himself into something new in order to make a piece better. He was a master at resetting the scene down to the most seemingly superfluous details. After reading Hells Angels, it is clear that he had a strong grip on the conventions of straight journalism but was also able to infuse his pieces with a distinguishable tone, a specific language and several literary techniques that enabled him to take his readers right to the edge. Once he reached the edge, he did not stop. He plunged himself and his readers deep into the abyss whether they wanted to or not.
All right, so a lot of reading. Let me know what you all think.
