In his introduction to The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 (1997), the first of a three volume collection of “The Fear and Loathing Letters”, William J. Kennedy, who won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Ironweed, offers this capsule description of Hunter S. Thompson: “bizarre wit, mockery without end, redundant excess, supreme self-confidence, the narrative of the wounded meritorious ego, and the idiopathic anger of the righteous outlaw.” Kennedy’s words serve as a perfect introduction to one of the most vital, original writers of the twentieth century, a man whose life continues to be celebrated: two of Thompson’s books have already been published as modern classics and four, mostly sensationalist biographies have been written about him. There have also been two Hollywood films, Where The Buffalo Roam (1980), which starred...
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Citation: Holcombe, Garan. "Hunter S. Thompson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5886, accessed 09 June 2026.]
