Gonzo Republic: Hunter S. Thompson's America

(Hardback)

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Gonzo Republic looks at Hunter S. Thompson's complex relationship with America. Thompson was a patriot but also a stubborn individualist. Stephenson examines the whole range of Thompson's work, from his early reporting from the South American client states of the USA in the 1960s to his twenty-first-century internet columns on sport, politics and 9/11. Stephenson argues that Thompson inhabited, but was to some extent reacting against, the tradition of American individualism begun by the Founding Fathers and continued by Emerson and Thoreau. Thompson sought out the edgethe threshold of chaos and insanityin order to define himself. His characters enact the same quest, travelling through the surreal landscape of his literary America: the Gonzo Republic.

Reviews

"Stephenson is on the money. There is a need for a serious, academic study of Hunter S. Thompson. Stephenson's thematic approach is perfectly suited for the purpose of the book. Though he takes a serious, scholarly approach, Stephenson's writing is extremely accessible. I think Thompson would approve." -- William McKeen, Professor and Chair, Journalism Department, Boston University, USA, and author of Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson (W.W. Norton, 2008).
"Gonzo Republic is a first-rate critical examination of Hunter S. Thompson's fierce literary output and social activism. William Stephenson has a fine grasp on all things Thompson. His defense of Curse of Lono is truly inspired. Mandatory reading for anybody interested in the Doctor of Journalism." -- Douglas Brinkley, editor of The Proud Highway and Fear and Loathing in America
"William Stephenson provides the first major, in-depth critique of this enormously deceptive, complex American author. He is attuned to the contradictions between Thompson's strident individualism and his advocacy for a healthy, collective body politic. With a poet's sensitivity and an unflinching critical vision, Stephenson is well equipped to guide readers through the blasted landscape of Hunter S. Thompson's America." -- Will Kaufman, author of American Culture in the 1970s and Woody Guthrie, American Radical
Reviewed on the blog- Truth About Lies. http://jim-murdoch.blogspot.com/2012/03/gonzo-republic-hunter-s-thompsons.html
Hunter S Thompson gets a full-on critical dissection in this demanding but well-written, sympathetic and illuminative study [...] Stephenson enlists the formidable theories of Michel Foucault to bolster his belief that Thompson and his work continue to ask questions worthy of our attention, about the nature of power, the importance of our common humanity, the hollowness of celebrity and the failure of the American dream. Gonzo would have approved. -- The Irish Times
Reviewed by -- Jerome Klinkowitz * American Literary Scholarship *
The sheer volume of information to be gained from this book is incredible. Pick it up today! It is an excellent study that will please anyone interested in learning more about both Hunter S. Thompson and American Literature and Culture. * Diversions: A Journal of American Experience *

Author Bio

William Stephenson is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Chester, where he teaches modernist and postmodernist literature.His publications include John Fowles (Northcote, 2003), several book chapters and articles in journals including Critique, Journal of Cultural Research and a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.