February: the month of death

There is nothing enlightening or reassuringly habitual in the death of someone you love. The suicide of gonzo pioneer Hunter S Thompson last week was the latest tragedy for me in months sodden with the emptiness and frustration of death.

Morbid inventory: I have lost one family member recently and another is on the way. John Peel died on my Dad's birthday last year. My wonderful father died 10 days ago. And Hunter S Thompson died three days after that.

Leaving personal tragedy aside, the loss of HST is terrible and bleak. He was a keeper of the light: brave and reckless, a true inspiration and pioneer of the wild American spirit. He cannot be equalled by impersonation, but we should all be inspired by his fierce individuality and tenacity.

In my favourite book - the volume of collected letters 'Proud Highway' - Hunter replies to a 14-year-old inspired by his book on Hell's Angels. You should make your own pattern, he said, and not fall into grooves made by other people.

On the publication of 'Hey Rube' last year, I laughed out loud when his spokesman told me that Hunter still refused to use a computer. He typed all his columns for ESPN.com by hand - and his beleaguered wife and assistant Anita had to type them all out again for the site. And that's the way it should be: the sound of HST's ferocity and passion remembered as the hammering of his typewriter keys against the platen. Punctuated by the occasional ominous shotgun peal.

The gentle pad of fingertips on a keypad isn't quite the same, but I'm back at work again anyway, padding away. RIP, HST.

From the closing pages of 'Kingdom of Fear':

"If the greatest mania of all is passion: and if I am a natural slave to passion: and if the balance between my brain and my soul and my body is as wild and delicate as the skin of a Ming vase -

"Well that explains a lot of things, doesn't it?"

More news from dotJournalism:
Hunter pedantry - coining gonzo
Gonzo journalist shoots himself
Gonzo legend prints web columns

Comment? Email me.



Comments

From Theresa Jones, 22:57 28 February 2005

Thanks for the great article on HST. February is 'the month of death' for me as well having lost just about every family member or friend during this month. News of Hunter's death was just one more to add. Anyway, keeping it short here, thank you.

Here's an article you've probably seen, but I took comfort in.

From Michael Duggan, 22:42 4 March 2005

Coplas por la muerte de su Padre.

RECUERDE el alma dormida,
avive el seso y despierte
contemplando
cómo se pasa la vida,
cómo se viene la muerte
tan callando,
cuán presto se va el placer,
cómo, después de acordado,
da dolor;
cómo, a nuestro parecer,
cualquiera tiempo pasado
fue mejor. 
Nuestras vidas son los ríos
que van a dar en la mar,
que es el morir;
 
Jorge Manrique (1440-1479) 

(Verses on the death of his Father

LET the sleeping soul arouse its senses and awake, to contemplate how life passes, how death approaches so silently; how quickly pleasure goes, and how once remembered (on waking) it gives pain, (and) how, as we see it, any time in the past was better.

Our lives are the rivers that flow out into the sea, which is death)

From SC, 20:07 17 Mar 2005 20:07

Hey again J.

I thought it was very cool how you had Hunter's ESPN column as a fav link before he died. Out of all the obits I have read about him here is an obit that seems to hit the right tone.

Death before dishonor, drugs before lunch - RIP, HST. Look forward to reading more of your writing. Peace off!

I thought you would be interested in the following article from the Tucson Citizen website:
Stanton: Like Icarus, Hunter Thompson flew a little too high.

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