Um, Gonzo Journalism?

I was explaining my literary journalism class to a friend the other day. Firstly, she didn't really get the difference between feature articles and literary pieces - "they're both telling a story right? And they're both true?"

So I gave her a few examples, such as travel writing, memoirs, biographies, personal essays, war literature and gonzo journalism.

Hunter S. Thompson

"Um, Gonzo journalism?"
"Yeah, you know. Like Hunter S Thompson. Or Truman Capote."
"Yeah, no. Hunter S who now?"
"Have you seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? It's based on one of his books. It's also called New Journalism."
"Fear and what in the where? And new journalism? What is old journalism?"

And so on. After much explaining, exasperated sighing and wikipedia-ing, she got it. But I was really surprised she hadn't heard of Gonzo journalism. I always thought that out of the literary journalism sub-categories, Gonzo was the most well-known.

Gonzo journalism is highly subjective style of writing, where the writer almost always includes themselves in the story via first-person narrative.

The term 'gonzo' was first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter Thompson. The reason for the term 'gonzo' being used isn't really known. There are quite a few theories bouncing around, from coming from the name of a song, to it being taken from South Boston Irish slang.

It's also been considered as "a form of journalism in which actual facts are deemed less important than a perceived underlying truth."

I don't take that to mean that it's untruthful. I like Gonzo journalism, and I really like Hunter Thompson's writing. I think it's vibrant, engaging and funny. Reading a Thompson book is like reading a slightly-crazy, surprisingly insightful stream of conscience.

In some contexts, Gonzo has also come to mean 'extreme' or 'done with reckless abandon', which I feel sums it up really well. I would love to write in this style. However, for my major assignment (more on that to come), it would absolutely be the wrong style. I'd definitely be interested to give it a try, but from the in class assignments we've done so far, I feel like my tone is far more sombre and formal, so I'd have to really work on changing my style.

If you're interested in getting into some Gonzo journalism, which I highly recommend, I would suggest starting with either Generation of Swine or The Rum Diaries, both by Thompson.