The Rum Diary

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The Rum Diary is considered to be the first novel by Hunter S. Thompson . The book was long thought to be lost and for this reason was not published until the end of the 20th century. The translation into German was done by Wolfgang Farkas. Heyne-Verlag published the German translation in 2004.

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The protagonist of the novel is the 32-year-old journalist Paul Kemp (similar to Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, an alter ego of Thompson), who gets around with jobs that never last longer than a few months. In "Rum Diary" he came to San Juan , Puerto Rico in 1959 , where he accepted a well-paid offer from the English-language newspaper The Daily News .

The plot begins with Paul Kemp getting drunk with some friends in New York the night before leaving for Puerto Rico . During the flight he notices a young and pretty blonde, whose name remains unknown to him at first. There are also a number of arguments with an elderly gentleman, which means that Kemp attracts the attention of most of the passengers and the crew.

Arrived in Puerto Rico, Kemp went straight to a hotel to sleep off his intoxication and only took a taxi to Old San Juan the next day to explore the new surroundings and introduce himself to the Daily News . To his astonishment, he found an angry mob in front of the editorial office, which one of the journalists found with difficulty to ward off. In the editorial office he meets the head of the Lottermann newspaper, the fatalistic photo reporter Bob Sala and Addison Yeamon, who is considered crazy. Despite Sala's dislike for Yeamon, Kemp becomes friends with both of them as the story progresses.

Over beer and rum in Al's Backyard , the hangout of the news journalists, Kemp learns that the attractive blonde he met on the plane is Chenault, Yeamon's friend.

After a day's work in the archive, Kemp accompanies Sala on his assignment, although it is illegal, to photograph the inside of a casino in the city. By chance they both meet two women in front of one of the casinos, with whom they then drive to the beach. But while Kemp goes swimming with one of the two naked and then has sex with her, Sala gets into an argument with the other and therefore gets nothing again.

Kemp also gets to know the entrepreneur Sanderson, whom he visits again and again in his villa on the beach in the course of the story. On the terrace of this villa he also meets Zimburger, who as a reservist has great enthusiasm for the Marines and plans to invest his money in some hotels.

One week after his arrival, Lotterman Kemp suggests moving out of the hotel room paid for by the newspaper, so Kemp decides to temporarily live in Sala's shabby apartment. However, he plans his daily routine so that he only has to go to the apartment, which is repulsive to him, to sleep. Kemp usually spends time outside of working hours at Al’s or at Villa Sandersons.

Meanwhile, Yeamon gets into an argument with Lotterman because Lotterman's article about the emigration of Puerto Ricans is way too long and Yeamon refuses to cut it. Out of anger, Lotterman finally dismisses Yeamon and assigns Kemp to shorten the article. But since he recognizes his own reasons for leaving his hometown in the detailed interviews with the emigrants, he also refuses to shorten the article, which leads to a heated argument with Lotterman.

After this incident, Kemp, Sala and Yeamon go to a restaurant, in which Yeamon instigates an argument with a waiter that ultimately ends in a brawl, in the course of which all three are beaten and arrested by the police. However, they are later released on bail , which is provided at Lotterman's expense.

When Sanderson Kemp arranges a few jobs for the Times and a very well-paid advertising job for Zimburger's hotel plans, Kemp can finally afford to move into his own apartment and buy a car, which lifted his spirits for the first time after the arrest.

To get to know the area he was supposed to write about better, Kemp travels to Vieques with Zimburger . In the end, overwhelmed by the beauty of the beach in question, Kemp regrets his involvement in the tourist development of the beach, which does not prevent him from fulfilling his mission.

From Vieques, Kemp travels directly to Saint Thomas , where he meets Yeamon and Chenault at the local carnival. He goes to various parties with both of them and even takes part in the looting of a liquor store, until Chenault dances himself into ecstasy at a private party and is kidnapped. When Yeamon and Kemp want to protest, they are forcefully forced to leave the party. Although they call in the police, the two of them fail to find Chenault, which is why they decide to fly back to San Juan without her.

Back in his apartment, Kemp is surprised by Chenault, who suddenly stands in front of his door. Seeming to be in very bad shape, Kemp decides to wait for her to recover at his apartment before informing Yeamon. But since both feel very strongly drawn to each other, they develop a relationship within a very short time. But when Kemp drives to Yeamon's house to inform him, he already suspects what has happened and explains that he is no longer interested in her. At the same time, rumors that the Daily News are going bankrupt are increasing, which is why Lotterman Kemp calls into his office and tells him that his new partner demands that the newspaper be profitable again as soon as possible, otherwise it will be closed. Because he thinks Kemp is the only reliable employee of the newspaper, he asks him to encourage the other journalists and encourage them to work, as he fears that they will be fired. But Kemp replies that he will soon resign himself, whereupon Lotterman has a tantrum and dismisses him without further ado.

When Kemp enters his apartment the next day, Chenault has disappeared and all he finds is a letter in which she says goodbye to him and explains that she has flown back to New York, where she would like to meet him again.

The following Monday, Kemp learns that the newspaper has closed, which excites many employees as Lotterman still owes many of their salaries. Because of this, some of them plan to kill Lotterman during an evening garden party. However, the improvised assassination attempt, in which Kemp does not participate, develops into a wild brawl in the course of which Lotterman dies of a heart attack . Since Yeamon and Kemp see themselves forced to flee, they only find out about Lotterman's death later. After helping Yeamon escape the authorities, Kemp decides to leave the island and books his return flight.

Narrative perspective

The entire plot is reproduced by Paul Kemp as a first-person narrator, which means that it is a personal narrative situation . Kemp acts as Thompson's alter ego .

background

In 1960, Thompson traveled to San Juan to work for the sports newspaper El Sportivo . But since the newspaper had to close a short time later, he subsequently wrote for various newspapers, including the local English-language daily newspaper San Juan Star and the New York Herald Tribune , but also for the government's information ministry. He also wrote a number of advertising brochures for various companies.

Thompson processed the experiences and impressions of his stay on the island a year later in his novel The Rum Diary , where he set the plot in 1958 and thus two years before his own stay. In contrast to his later works, Thompson made use of many fictional elements in this novel, so that the book, in contrast to the fear and horror in Las Vegas, which is largely documented with tape recordings , cannot be regarded as an experience report. However, it can be assumed that many people and events have their real role models.

Since Thompson could not find a publisher for his book, it initially remained unpublished and was considered lost for decades. It was not published until 1998 with the support of Johnny Depp , who was a close friend of Thompson. In 2011, the film adaptation of the novel with Johnny Depp in the leading role came to US cinemas.

expenditure

Staging

Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken / Section 4, world premiere: May 27, 2009, production: Philippe Roth

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b taz.de January 3, 2005: Who makes himself an animal , accessed on August 21, 2012
  2. ↑ spiegel.de August 1, 2012: Pretty drunk, the idiot , accessed on August 21, 2012