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Kleobis and Biton
Hunter S. Thompson is said to have told his wife that he wanted to die at the height of his glory. Almost certainly, he had the example of Kleobis and Biton in mind. This passage from Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths describes how the two young men, sons of a priestess of Hera, met their end:
When the time came for her to perform the rites of the goddess, and the white oxen which were to draw her sacred chariot had not yet arrived from the pasture, Cleobis and Biton, harnessing themselves to the chariot, dragged it to the temple, a distance of nearly five miles. Pleased with their filial devotion, the priestess prayed that the goddess would grant them the best gift she could bestow on mortals; and when she had performed her rites, they went to sleep in the temple, never to wake again.
He who sired gonzo journalism was evidentally possessed by mania. In Greek religion, only the gods can grant this ultimate gift — to die at the height of your glory. Thompson arrogated the power to himself. He brought not glory but an infamous end to a checkered life.
My sanity allowing, I shall allow what gods there be to determine for me when it is time for me to die, whether it be in an hour of fame or destitution.
Posted: February 28th, 2005 under Folly Watch, Mania, Myths & Mysticism.
Comments: 5 |
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Comment from doug
Time: 3/1/2005, 4:58 am
What Hunter did has Promethean overtones to it, to be sure. It’s better to exit the stage unnoticed and noble, than by a mighty bang of your own making. The latter gets you noticed, to be sure, but to what point or purpose?
Comment from Joel
Time: 3/1/2005, 7:23 am
doug: agreed. I feel that Thompson did many of us a disservice by modeling suicide. It’s easier for me to forgive, say, Abbie Hoffman who died in a moment of terrible grief and ecstasy because he just felt there was no going on.
In Thompson’s case, I feel a little differently. But when I think about it, my anger begins to shift from Thompson to his groupies who so celebrated what you called his “pinball life” that they made it quite impossible for him to be anything else.
Drugs plus Thompson’s evident bipolar disorder brought him down. It would not surprise me if it were reported that he went out in a state of angry euphoria. That’s the disease talking. Because people thought he was cute when he was in that state of mind, he wasn’t prodded into seeking help.
He didn’t live what I would call a glorious life. I do not doubt that he found himself in moments that were filled with fear and loathing. Yet he kept going because that became his schtick, his means of making a living, and his chain.
Comment from LindaCuyama
Time: 3/2/2005, 2:58 pm
It’s always a mistake when a person (a) begins to believe their own publicity (b) allows themself to be boxed in by the image other people hold of them. Thompson had a lot of enablers who were fascinated by his combination of brilliance and craziness (not to mention his weapons fascination and self-destructiveness). Those folk inadvertently fed his disease. I think this is what was called in transactional analysis the “gallows transaction”.
Comment from Joel
Time: 3/2/2005, 6:31 pm
Linda: With such friends, who needs enemies?
Time: 2/28/2005, 11:02 pm
I don’t mind people remembering what was good in his life, but I don’t want to glamourize his death.