May 2019 Auction Ends Thursday, May 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2019
Hunter S. Thompson typed letter signed "HST" in bright red pencil, with additional hand-annotations throughout and an autograph note at the end. Thompson critiques the recent work of writer and political activist Carl Oglesby - critique that is itself a work of insightful analysis and creative authorship. Written on custom stationery for "Owl Farm", Thompson's ranch in Woody Creek, Colorado, Thompson writes to his friend Paul Semonin on 2 March 1968, in part, "I read Oglesby's piece as far as the red marker (mine), but that was as much as I could take. This, combined with a weird exercise in grass-writing that he had in last month's Ramparts [magazine], makes me wonder about his head. It especially makes me wonder who wrote his Washington speech several years ago, the one that was printed, as I recall, in the Monthly Review that you gave me. That was an awesomely lucid piece of work; I don't know how it sounded, but it read like it was written with a steam-hammer. This stuff, by contrast (The Deserter), is so maliciously over-written that I can't deal with it. I can't argue with what he may or may not be saying, because I'm so appalled by his style -- his turgid incompetence, as it were -- that I can't come to grips with his meaning…But I can't get that Washington speech out of my head, so I have to wonder which one of us -- me or Oglesby -- has gone around the bend in the interim…
This is an example of a 'writer' whose work I approach with respect and even eagerness, but whose sentences -- in print -- don't make any sense to me. Compare the length, lucidity and impact of the sentences he quotes, to the turgid filigree he uses to say what he's writing about. Look at the fantastic length of his sentences, the hellbroth of contingent phrases and thoughts, cracked here and there by commas that serve their purpose, up to a point, and then only confuse.
Well……balls. I can already hear you spitting and snarling, so why go on? You insisted that I comment on this thing, so I am. It's simply bad writing. It may be bad thinking, too, but the writing is so bad that I can't understand the thinking behind it. The other side of that coin, of course, is that I'm simply too stupid to grasp it. Maybe so, and I have to take that chance…"
Thompson then helps his friend with a submission of a manuscript: "Push it hard and fast; don't fuck around and let him lose interest. Contact me again, by phone, when it comes time to haggle over money…Keep at it; I smell a contract here…As for Chicago [1968 Democratic convention], I plan to be there, so let me know if you're definite. It may be the end of the world as we know it…[signed] HST". Three page letter measures 8.5" x 11". Folds and light wear, overall very good condition.
Hunter S. Thompson Letter Signed, With Literary Critique & Mention of the 1968 Democratic Convention -- ''...As for Chicago, I plan to be there...It may be the end of the world as we know it...''
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