Re: jack kerouac/terrible drafts

Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:49:37 -0400 (EDT) 

Well, Jim, we might have to agree to differ on this one....

In my opinion Hunter S. Thompson is a bit like Ralph Waldo Emerson on
amphetemines....  (not that I'd ever admit to trying amphetemines--in fact I
HAVE NOT!--although I've read my share of RWE....)  (...in fact, I'm not
ever sure that I know how to SPELL ampthetemines....) (?)

The Frederick Jackson Turner wildness of the American frontier is grafted
onto the moralistic transcendentalism of the Concord enlightenment....  

It all seems so 'Meruhcan to this Canuck....

Cheers,

Paul




>Gawd I wish I could share anyone's enthusiasm for Hunter S. Thompson.  I
>admit I've only read...eh...the Las Vegas thing.  What was it?  Fear and
>Loathing in Las Vegas.  There you go.  
>
>When I was in High School, I would have thought it was really cool.  Now
>it just seems like lowbrow drug humor.  Right up there with Up in Smoke. 
>Good for some yuks, but, really...favorable comparisons to Hemingway? :)
>
>I prefer Tom Wolfe to Thompson any day.  At least he's trying to say
>something.
>
>Jim Rovira
>Check out "Up Against the Wall" for links to numerous
>literature and writing resources on the internet.
>http://members.aol.com/antiutopia/main.htm
>
>On Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:20:12 -0400 (EDT) kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca (Paul
>Kennedy) writes:
>>After having disgraced myself in the world's eyes (and, perhaps even 
>>more
>>importantly, in Scottie's eyes....) last week, by exhibiting nearly 
>>suicidal
>>tendencies towards alcoholism, only moments after mentioning my
>>self-confessed love of apparently low-brow literature like Armistead 
>>Maupin,
>>I'm now about to combine my two fatal flaws by jumping onto the Hunter 
>>S.
>>Thompson bandwagon.... I mean, if a guy is going to fall off the 
>>wagon, what
>>better wagon to fall off than the one Hunter has been falling off for 
>>years!
>>
>>Hunter is the only journalist since 1960 that I'd instantly induct 
>>into the
>>Felt Fedora Hall of Fame for Hack/Seers....  (Previous inductees 
>>include S.
>>J. Perlman, H. L. Mencken, James Thurber and E. B. White.) (Jimmy 
>>Breslin's
>>case is currently up for consideration....)
>>
>>But what's this?:
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>when you finish reading something like "ask the dust" it really gets 
>>to you
>>>and can almost change your life, and when you finish "the sun also 
>>rises"
>>>it's just like "oh, ok...."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Papa's taken enough poop around here of late.  So I'll ignore the 
>>second
>>part of the above passage.....  But what, pray tell, is "Ask the 
>>Dust"?  (I
>>can't pretend to have sought out--let alone read--everything that HST 
>>ever
>>wrote.... although my Ralph Steadman autograph in STILL LIFE WITH 
>>BOTTLE
>>ranks right up there beside Joe Carter's on an American League 
>>baseball in
>>my personal reliquary of important objects....)  
>>
>>I'd be willing to bet that Hunter is a Holden fan.... and that there's 
>>a
>>red-and-yellow copy of CATCHER, stashed not far from the dope, out 
>>there in
>>his Colorado homestead....
>>
>>Where can I find "Ask the Dust"?
>>
>>Please!
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Paul
>>
>>PS:  Hunter, I'm almost certain, drinks Bourbon....  But I'll pass, 
>>just
>>now, and solicit Scottie's praise for my admirable abstinence.... 
>>
>
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