What is GONZO?
Various definitions included in your reading assignment (Martin Hirst’s “What is gonzo?”):
From Louisville reporter John Filiatreau:
“[Gonzo] can only be defined as what Hunter Thompson does…It generally consists of the fusion of reality and stark fantasy in a way that amuses the author and outrages his audience. It is Point of View Run Wild.”
From biographer William McKeen:
“Gonzo requires virtually no re-writing, with the reporter and the quest for information as the focal point. Notes, snatches from other articles, transcribed interviews, verbatim telephone conversations, telegrams— these are elements of a piece of gonzo journalism.”
From biographer Peter Whitmer:
“the South Boston Irish used [gonzo] to describe the guts and stamina of the last man standing at the end of a marathon drinking bout.”
From Tony Thorne’s Dictionary of Contemporary Slang:
“The word itself is an adjective meaning crazy or extremist and derives from a HIPSTER expression made up of ‘gone’ (as in ecstatic, uncontrolled) and an ‘-o’ suffix (with the ‘z’ for ease of pronunciation), or directly from the Italian gonzo, meaning a buffoon or simpleton.”
From Internet searches:
1 wild and crazy.
2 (of journalism) explicitly including the writer’s feelings at the time ofwitnessing the events or undergoing the experiences written about.
Definitions from other sources:
From Jerome Klinkowitz:
"The quick cut, the strategic use of digression, the ability to propel himself through a narrative like a stunt driver, steering with the skids so that the most improbable intentions result in the smoothest maneuvers, the attitude of having one's personal craziness pale before contemporary American life - all of these elements combine to define, as best one can, the peculiar energies unique to the Gonzo writer."
From writer Jean Carroll:
“a style of reporting based on William Faulkner’s idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism.”
English 1101, Gonzo Exercise #1
For Homework, due to me through email before class on 10/17:
Think of somewhere you’ve gone, something you’ve done, something you’ve seen, someone you’ve spoken with – a story, in short – that you could report to the class.
List the primary/conventional 5 W’s of your story first. Then consider the other who’s, the other what’s, the other where’s, when’s and why’s that might find their way into your story. Think of this as a version of a brainstorming activity; don’t hold back; go off on as many tangents as you can.
List these in the way we’ve been listing them on the board (that is, stick to our cluster map strategy).
Some Other Who
Who
Some Other What What
WhereSome OtherWhere
Some OtherWhen When
Why
Some Other Why