‘Paura E Disgusto A Las Vegas’
di Hunter S. Thompson
Prologo
In ‘Puerto Escondido’ oltre al viaggio fisico dei personaggi e
tutto ciò che ne consegue (e di cui ho già parlato), è anche
presente un piccolo accenno al ‘viaggio psichedelico’, nella
celebre scena dove, Mario (Diego Abatantuono) per resistere al
deserto, mangia il peyote, famoso allucinogeno messicano.
Ed è proprio attraverso il viaggio psichedelico che Hunter S.
Thompson ci offre il suo punto di vista su cosa era l’America
negli anni 70, dopo l’affievolirsi del movimento sessantottino.
‘Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas’
by Hunter S. Thompson
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is a cult book of an entire
generation. It tells the story of a journey made in 1971 by the
American sports journalist Hunter S. Thompson, here with the
pseudonym of ‘Raoul Duke’, along with his attorney Oscar Zeta
Acosta here with the pseudonym of ‘Dr. Gonzo’, on board of a showy
red convertible Chevrolet. The destination is Las Vegas, capital
of gamble and of the most sparkling and perverse American
conformism, where the ‘Mint 400’ takes place, a famous and
ramshackle motorbike and Dune – Buggy race. The declared aim is to
‘discover the American Dream’. From the beginning, the journey
reveals to be hallucinating, irreverent, exhilarating and
desperate. The two heroes, under the effect of a mixture of drugs
that is second to none, witness a total transformation of reality,
that assumes the most unpredictable facets, from the psychedelic,
colored, fantastic, to those grotesque and tragic of nightmare and
despair. A novel of great narrative power, written with a lucid
and pressing style, supported by sensational dialogues, it depicts
a masterly picture of those years’ America, the America of the
defeated, lost in a chasm that drugs and shattered myths could not
have overwhelmed.
The journey takes place in a very particular and extraordinary
year: 1971. USA is still in war in Vietnam, the president is still
Richard Nixon, and one of the most dramatic currency crises
perhaps of the world begins, including USA. Crises that in Italy,
for example, led to austerity and other policies. But 1971 is also
the year during which the rock culture conveys itself more than
ever: for example is in this year that ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon is
