Original artwork, not a still
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas · 1971
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like 'I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive....'
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The sentence is the book's mission statement: a deadpan reporter's opening, then the drugs, and then reality going wrong in the next breath. It is the best-known first line of gonzo journalism, and a reminder that Thompson turned a magazine assignment into a fever dream of the American Dream. People quote it for any road trip that has gone off the rails, and the bats that follow gave pop culture the phrase bat country.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Fear and Loathing in Las VegasShow the scene
It is the opening line of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which first ran in Rolling Stone as a two-part series in 1971 and came out as a book in 1972. The narrator, journalist Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, are driving a rented red convertible from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to cover the Mint 400 desert race, with a stash of drugs. By the end of the quoted passage the trip has begun to bite, and a roar and a swarm of what Duke takes for huge bats close in on the car.
Sources (2)
- Wikiquote: Hunter S. ThompsonFear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) sectionReference checked
- Wikipedia: Fear and Loathing in Las VegasLead, Plot and BackgroundReference checked
Context reviewed
