Raoul Duke is the pseudonym of the cult American writer and journalist Hunter S. Thompson. At the same time, Raoul is the protagonist of several Thompson novels, helping the author turn real stories into fiction.
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson, the most famous American journalist, a cult bit-generation writer and inventor of the gonzo reporter, was born in Kentucky (USA), in 1937. For 48 years of creative activity (Hunter wrote from the age of 19), he was assigned the title of "America's chief wit": from his very first publications, Thompson boldly and wittily criticized American orders, politics and the absurdity of the entire moral and value system of the United States.
Raul Duke
Of course, being a young man unknown to anyone, making such statements was very dangerous, which means that a novice author needed a pseudonym. So Raoul Duke was born.
Apart from small journalistic notes and publications, the first work in which Raul appears is Thompson’s novel "Angels of Hell", published in 1966. Duke becomes a cult figure after his second appearance in literature - in the novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A Wild Journey to the Heart of the American Dream." Both books were written in the first person and were originally published by Duke, not Thompson. Below is Raoul’s image in the illustration for the original edition of Fear and Loathing, by Ralph Steadman
In Thompson's books, Raul is characterized by a hedonistic lifestyle, cynicism, a tendency to use drugs and alcohol in large quantities, and absolute contempt for the values of conservative America. Outwardly, Duke can be distinguished by the indispensable Hawaiian shirt in bright colors, dark glasses, a panama hat, Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers and a short mouthpiece with a cigarette gagged in his teeth - this is exactly what Hunter Thompson himself most often looked like.
