Typed Letter, signed HST in type and with a flourish in red pen, to Richard Elman, October 5 [1966]
- One page, 20 lines, typed on recto only. 4to
- [N.p.] , 1966
[N.p.], 1966. One page, 20 lines, typed on recto only. 4to. Old folds, minor paper flaws at margins. Old annotations on verso. Near fine. One page, 20 lines, typed on recto only. 4to. Excellent and expressive letter from Hunter S. Thompson to author Richard Elman:
In part: “If I needed a quick $400, though, I think I’d try the new editor at Pageant, one Jim Hoffman, with a few ideas. He wrote today, saying how much he dug the Nation (nonstudent) piece — not the writing, which he already knows, but the general idea of a rebellious generation, etc. He sounds like the type of guy who would go for almost anything ‘meaningful and contemporary.’ And you could rap off his 2000 words in two days. Say something from your book on welfare. […] I don’t advance it as a serious tit, but sort of a good quick lay. […] Right now I’m rushing to finish off this Playboy fuck, which has given me a terrible time. And then a rush on the book. I have the fear the effort will collapse me completely […] my unpaid and unpayable phone bill is $79.16.”
Thompson’s piece for the Nation on the motorcycle gangs was the nucleus of the book he was getting ready to finish, Hell’s Angels (published by Random House the following year). Playboy spiked the piece he reports struggling with. Elman’s book, The Poorhouse State. The American Way of Life on Public Assistance, was published in 1966.
Fully formed, mouthy and pushing to excess, right from the beginning of his career.
In part: “If I needed a quick $400, though, I think I’d try the new editor at Pageant, one Jim Hoffman, with a few ideas. He wrote today, saying how much he dug the Nation (nonstudent) piece — not the writing, which he already knows, but the general idea of a rebellious generation, etc. He sounds like the type of guy who would go for almost anything ‘meaningful and contemporary.’ And you could rap off his 2000 words in two days. Say something from your book on welfare. […] I don’t advance it as a serious tit, but sort of a good quick lay. […] Right now I’m rushing to finish off this Playboy fuck, which has given me a terrible time. And then a rush on the book. I have the fear the effort will collapse me completely […] my unpaid and unpayable phone bill is $79.16.”
Thompson’s piece for the Nation on the motorcycle gangs was the nucleus of the book he was getting ready to finish, Hell’s Angels (published by Random House the following year). Playboy spiked the piece he reports struggling with. Elman’s book, The Poorhouse State. The American Way of Life on Public Assistance, was published in 1966.
Fully formed, mouthy and pushing to excess, right from the beginning of his career.