Outlaw Journalist by William McKeen

Author:William McKeen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Hunter finally finished “The Great Shark Hunt” for Playboy, and it was set to run in the December issue, following the also long overdue Craig Vetter interview, which ran in November. The resignation caused Hunter and Vetter to reframe the nearly finished interview in order to revise his position on the Nixon presidency and put it in the proper tense. Hunter even helped Vetter write the introduction to the piece, which is why it reads like Hunter or someone trying to imitate Hunter. His desire to always find the right word impressed Vetter.

Vetter had used a description in his introduction of Hunter sitting on a seawall in Cozumel, reading a $1.25 newspaper that would have cost a more sober man 25 cents. As Vetter told writer Peter Whitmer, “Hunter saw that and said, ‘No. No . . . it is better if we make it 24 cents.’ That’s close-in craftsmanship, not something you could ever teach. Hunter, when he is on as a writer, line by line, letter by letter, is as good as you can get.”

The “Shark Hunt” piece was Hunter’s grandest epic in years. After he had spent three years in politcos’ back rooms, moving his vision outside was like going from a black-and-white tea-sipping drama to a Cinemascope cast-of-thousands spectacle.

Set up as a story about a fishing tournament, it was, of course, about Hunter Thompson being assigned to write about a fishing tournament. Much of the action has to do with beer, margaritas, drugs, and the inevitability of the blown deadline. His Celine-like companion Bloor (Solheim) speaks in apocalyptic language, just like Hunter Thompson. The cadence and the emphatic tone could make readers believe that Hunter had developed schizophrenia or found an imaginary playmate. Solheim insisted he was on the boat. The story was mostly about the struggle of being Hunter Thompson, of fighting over expenses, incompetence, and injustice, and his liberal references to his life and lifestyle (“Sandy” was used in the story without explanation) made it clear this was a members-only story for his built-in audience. For a man complaining about the agony of celebrity, he wasn’t doing anything to stop perpetuating his image as America’s premier outlaw journalist.

He also wasn’t doing any rewriting. He admitted that he hadn’t done a second draft of anything since Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. If readers lapped up whatever he wrote, no matter how many breakdowns and chronological shifts he threw their way, why try for polish? During the political coverage and in the Campaign Trail book, he had occasionally resorted to using his notes verbatim, and his disciples loved them, particularly when he threw in a mock editor’s note (“at this point, Dr. Thompson was confined to bed at the insistence of his physician . . .”). The device allowed him to get away with cutting corners. It also enhanced his literary mystique and permitted him to market Gonzo journalism as first-draft “free lunch, final wisdom, total coverage.” The style itself freed him from having to labor over multiple drafts.

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