Hunter Thompson and Arthur Miller: Relative importance

[muriel_volestrangler]

Topics and replies in General Discussion, after their deaths:
Thompson: 19 topics, 308 replies
Miller: 2 topics, 16 replies

OK, I know a suicide is more newsworthy than the death of a long-lived man, but isn't there a mismatch in the attention paid, if Thompson gets 10 times as much?

[MikeG]

1. I agree. Miller should have been discussed more.

[Warpy]

2. Different generations, different importance

Had Miller topped himself as a younger man, the generation he most influenced would have created as much or more of a fuss as is being created for Thompson.

That's the short answer.

More people alive now have been affected by Thompson. Miller's largest audience went before him, although his works are in the process of standing the test of time.

[nashville_brook]

3. HST was a pop culture icon

Miller was a great Artist.


people have more to say about HST b/c more people read him and FOLLOWED him. has nothing to do with relative import.

plus, he did lots of drugs -- in fact, i'd argue -- taught a generation of post-hippies HOW to take drugs. yea, verily -- our mourning is verbose b/c it is fueled by a thousand twitchy acid binges.

[theboss]

4. I imagine the average age of this group is under 40

Arthur Miller really didn't have any impact on the culture since the 50s aside from being your typical "Lion in Winter" literary giant. Thompson was a pop cultural force in the 70s and even 80s. And he was never assigned in Sophomore English.

It's the difference between the death of a great classical musician and a rock star.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. As am I, though I'm British

To me, Thompson was the author of "Fear and Loathing ..." and not much else. I never got round to reading it, and didn't bother watching the film all the way through. It just didn't interest or amuse me very much. I'd put more significance on, say, "Easy Rider". What I have seen of his recent stuff linked from DU is OK - but not something that made me look for him again.

Miller was also someone whose 'magnum opus' was from before my adulthood, but it was fairly obvious that his plays were the best of American writing in the second half of the 20th century. When I got him assigned in English, I woke up.

[Metatron]

9. If you are interested in American politics

you really might want to read some of the good doctor's political books before you dismiss him and his work. As well as being insightful and extremely analytical, he was very funny. As to your original post, DU is a political message board, not a theatrical message board. I think that is the single reason why there has been more coverage of Thompson's death than Miller's on DU. As a long-time fan of both writers, and as a person with a degree in theatre, I believe that part of the genius of Hunter S. Thompson was his ability to describe the bizarre theatre that is American politics.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

19. My niece in high school has read both Arthur Miller and Thompson

I can't believe you haven't read "The Crucible" or "Death of a Salesman" in jr. high/high school. I'm 40 and we read those as well as other classics.

[thebigidea]

6. and what better tribute to both men than to compare their newsworthiness?

talk about tacky.

hopefully when you die, someone at the funeral can disparage the whole thing as too much of a fuss... perhaps suggesting someone else who died and didn't get enough attention.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Fine by me

I want a 'no fuss' funeral. People can meet up if they want. If not, so what?

I'm surprised you think I was tacky, though. I think both men might have made similar remarks, if in very different ways.

[thebigidea]

10. I guess you got all that psychological insight by not reading HST's work

Oh, wait - you saw SOME of a movie. I suppose that qualifies you. Carry on, Doctor Insight... maybe you can tell us something else about him based on a Johnny Depp movie.

[Inland]

11. When you pretend that this forum is equivalent of a funeral, you ARE

making too much of a fuss.

If you pretend that you are equivalent of a loved one at the funeral, able to lash out at someone else in your grief, then you are making too much of a fuss. And you are pretending like you are going to be given slack for wishing ill on someone else.

Why don't you just delete your message.

[thebigidea]

12. based on a movie I once saw, I think both men would want it that way

I may have seen at least 12 minutes of "the Crucible," so I can say whatever I want.

[Inland]

14. Was it "Dumb and Dumber"? Cuz that's where your posts are heading.

You can say whatever you want. And you do. I guess you think you are the grieving widow at the funeral, in that we all have to respond in hushed voices to soothe and calm your turmoil. Ho, hum.

The original post wanted it to be about literary merit and the news. It isn't about you.

[thebigidea]

22. someone who wanted to discuss literary merit...

... but who had not bothered to read any of the literature.

Do you want to argue about the literary merit of Arthur Miller with someone who only watched the first 13 minutes of "the Crucible?"

[Inland]

23. If you don't, you can always find a different thread, rather than

wish somebody a bad funeral because they broached the subject of merit and newsworthiness. You feign indignation at the subject and claim that you are too good to provide the unwashed with a comment.

Let me know when you have something to contribute besides your own sense of superiority.

[thebigidea]

24. I would never dream of matching your contributions in any way

so I'll just bow out now, bested by your inherent... non-superiority. inferiority?

I'm sure you'll continue this probing examination of literary merit when I'm gone, right? Maybe we could get it published in the Paris Review or something.

[Inland]

25. You could, actually. But you think the attempt beneath you.

Is it the subject matter, or the particpants, or just you? For whatever reason, don't feel you have to do anyone any favors. Just take off.

[DrWeird]

7. Thompson was a better writer.

Have to say it. Not to disrespect Miller.

[Inland]

13. Thompson was more notorious than read.

That goes for his suicide, as well, and the flame war it has generated.

In the news reports on Miller's death, you were pretty much left with a marriage with Marilyn Monroe for notoriety.

[mattclearing]

21. I wouldn't call it a flame war per se.

But a couple of dumb posts have resulted in friction.

[Cleita]

15. Different generations.

Arthur Miller was of my time and he was still at the top of his writing career when I was in high school in the fifties. Therefore, I think fewer of us are alive today to remember him as a contemporary. Whereas with Hunter Thompson, many grew up with him and were intimately acquainted with his work.

Really, other than English majors, how many people under fifty have read any works by Miller other than "Death of a Salesman"?

[Inland]

16. I read the Crucible.

43, econ major. In fact, I think I read it in high school.

[Cleita]

17. I read "salesman" in high school too.

I think I read "The Crucible" in college.

[tx_dem41]

18. I think every high school kid in America reads the Crucible. n/t

[EC]

20. For myself, I feel Miller lived a good life, put up a good

fight for what was right. But with Thompson, I feel if someone that has been fighting for all these years for whats right, suddenly gives up, it gives pause, to the hopelessness of the fight...has it gone too far, do the neocons have too much of a lead for us to ever put up a good fight? Then again, I also have to wonder if there is something fishy here, too.

Did Thompson just say to himself, Hey, no-one cares anymore, no-one is listening?


I had to wonder, years back when Jerzy Kozinski committed suicide too, did he just give up the fight? He put a plastic bag over his head, was it a statement of the times?


Maybe, it's a wake-up call.............

[jpgray]

26. If you're looking for a connection between number of posts and importance

You won't find it here. Beastman's "Let's get to 1,000 replies!" isn't more important than either man's death, for example. Doesn't mean DUers are crude or anything, just that what's popular isn't always what's important. Some things also don't need as much discussion as others.