Writer Documentaries
I haven't posted in a while. I've been trying to finish up a post about Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. I hadn't seen the film before and it made such an impact on me that I wanted to write about it. The film seems larger than life and there are so many themes, details, and angles that I want to cover. So, while I finish that post up, I wrote up a quick post about some writer documentaries I've watched recently. This also took a while to complete - I took notes as I watched and later wrote up some thoughts on the documentaries but I just couldn’t seem to complete the post. I decided to keep the list confined to those writers that I've actually read, which seemed to make my own writing on the documentaries a bit easier. I'm always interested in learning about the writer's journey so these documentaries offer endless inspiration.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)
Salinger (2013)
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)
Every now and then I'll go through a Hunter S. Thompson phase. I'll read or watching something, and I'll get sucked in - how can I resist? He lived life at a furious pace and his writing was exciting, daring and outrageous as a result. To be honest, I haven't yet read his most famous novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (I've seen the movie and also The Rum Diary.) I've read several essays and his later novel The Curse of Lono, which is just as gonzo as the rest though not as well known.
The documentary covers Thompson's rebellious childhood to getting his start writing for the Air Force and becoming a counterculture icon in the 60s and 70s, his most creative and influential period. Say what you want about the man, myth, the legend, but he threw himself into the zeitgeist of the era. After all the drugs, drinking, and mania, Thompson's writing still resonates today in American culture. A must see for any Gonzo fanatics.
Salinger (2013)
Like most Americans, J.D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye was required reading during my school years. I read Catcher in Mr. Crane's seventh-grade English class. I brought in an old copy my Dad kept in a bookcase in a dark corner of the basement. Mr. Crane asked me to purchase a new version - he thought my old edition could be worth something (I still have Dad's copy). When I read it for the first time, the writing and story grabbed me but I knew there was something I wasn’t quite understanding then. Upon subsequent reads during high school, I was struck by two thoughts: first, I thought 'Oh there's someone who sees the world as I do'; and second, that a book could have a different meaning at different parts of my life.
The documentary looks at what is publicly known of Salinger but remains a distant look at the author as there are no interviews or speeches given by the man himself. When Salinger became the 'voice of a generation' after publishing Catcher in the Rye, he stayed away from public life. During World War II, Salinger saw some of the heaviest fighting in Europe, including landing at Utah Beach on D-Day and later the Battle of the Bulge. He kept writing throughout the war and met with Hemingway in Paris. Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951 and afterward Salinger became known as a recluse. The documentary attempts to reframe this view of the author as a man who did not want to be the 'voice of a generation' and would rather keep writing and never publish again. Perhaps one day Salinger's manuscripts will see the light of day.
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021)
When I spoke to a few friends about influential books during their formative years, most had either read Catcher in the Rye or Slaughterhouse-Five. I didn’t read Vonnegut's most well-known work until I was in my mid-20s (Breakfast of Champions is on my list of books to read).
The documentary feels as unstuck in time as Billy Pilgrim, jumping around to different parts of Vonnegut's life, but ultimately giving a comprehensive look into the writer's life, with Vonnegut doing much of the storytelling. Director Robert Weide proposed the documentary to Vonnegut in 1982 and the two become lifelong friends. Over the course of 40 years, Weide continued to work on the documentary and the result is a very personal look into Vonnegut's life, from birth to death, and the experiences which impacted him along the way. Perhaps the most notable moment of Vonnegut's life was his experience as a prisoner-of-war during the allied bombing of Dresden in 1945, resulting in his 'Dresden novel' Slaughterhouse-Five. Weide describes Vonnegut as the Mark Twain of the 20th century. As Vonnegut works on Slaughterhouse-Five, we see him as a struggling writer, moody and angry; quite a contrast to the funny and quirky old man we come to know in the later years of his life. The documentary is a fascinating look into Vonnegut's journey as writer.
Other writer documentaries to check out:
Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008)
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (2013)
KW