Oscar Zeta Acosta

Oscar Zeta Acosta (* 8. April 1935 in El Paso , Texas ; † 1974 ?) Was an American lawyer, a writer who of Chicano Literature is attributed, as well as a politician and activist Chicano - civil rights movement . He became known as the inspiration for the character of the Samoan lawyer Dr. Gonzo in the novel " Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas " by Hunter S. Thompson .

Life

Acosta's father was drafted during World War II , and Oscar was forced to look after the family as a young boy. After graduating from high school , he went to the US Air Force , from which he was honorably discharged after four years.

After Modesto Junior College, he attended San Francisco State University , where he began to write. After graduation, he graduated from San Francisco Law School in 1966.

He then worked as a lawyer for the East Oakland Legal Aid Society in Oakland - an organization that campaigned against poverty.

Acosta later moved to eastern Los Angeles and became a lawyer for the Chicanos.

In 1970 he ran for Los Angeles County Sheriff against Peter Pitchess and received more than 100,000 votes. During the election campaign, he spent several days in jail for contempt of court. Ultimately, Pitchess clearly won the election with 1.3 million votes.

In the summer of 1967 Acosta met the journalist Hunter S. Thompson , who wrote the article "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" for the music magazine Rolling Stone about him and the injustice in the barrios of Los Angeles. The article also dealt with the murder of the Los Angeles Times columnist Ruben Salazar, who in 1970 at a protest against the Vietnam War had been shot by the police.

In 1971 Thompson and Acosta made a trip to Las Vegas , which formed the basis for the novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". Thompson described Acosta as follows:

“Oscar wasn't into serious street fights, but he was hell on wheels in a bar fight. Any combination of a 113-pound Mexican and LSD-25 is a potentially fatal threat to anything within their reach - but if the Mexican in question is indeed a furious Chicano attorney, absolutely fearless of anything on less than three legs goes, and is in the de facto suicidal conviction that he will die at the age of 33 - like Jesus Christ - then you really have a problem on your neck. Especially when the bastard is 33½ , his head full of Sandoz Acid, a loaded .357 Magnum on his belt, an ax-wielding Chicano bodyguard always by his side, and the embarrassing habit of targeting geysers of pure blood every 30 or 40 minutes vomit whenever his malignant (stomach) ulcer cannot tolerate further pure tequila. "

- Hunter S. Thompson : Rolling Stone Magazine, Issue 254, December 15, 1977

Acosta's first novel, Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo , was published in 1972, followed in 1973 by The Revolt of the Cockroach People - a fictional tale about the 1970 Chicano antiwar movement.

In 1974 Acosta disappeared on a trip to Mexico . In May 1974, Acosta phoned his son Marco and told him that he was "boarding a boat full of white snow".

Marco is quoted in relation to his father's disappearance: "The body was never found, but knowing the people he was dealing with, we suspect that he likely got into a fight and was killed." Acosta's friend Thompson suspected political murder or murder by drug dealers .

various

In Terry Gilliam's film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , Benicio del Toro took on the role of Acosta.

literature

• Oscar "Zeta" Acosta: Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo . Vintage Books, 1972, ISBN 0-679-72213-0 .
• Oscar "Zeta" Acosta: The Revolt of the Cockroach People . Vintage Books, 1973, ISBN 0-679-72212-2 .
• Oscar "Zeta" Acosta: Uncollected Works: Oscar Acosta . Arte Público Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55885-099-6 .
• Heath, Markus. Overwriting boundaries : Chicano / a-narrative literature and the staging of cultural contact . Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 978-3-8253-1662-4
• Hunter S. Thompson: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time . Ballantine Books, 1979, ISBN 0-345-37482-7 .

Web links

• "Guide to the Acosta Papers" (English)
• Short biography with numerous further links (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Heide, Markus: Overwriting boundaries: Chicano / a-narrative literature and the staging of cultural contact. Universitätsverlag Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 978-3-8253-1662-4 .
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