Wolfe Compares Thompson to Twain

In an interview with Time this week, popular novelist Tom Wolfe draws a parallel between Twain and another brilliant eccentric of more recent decades, Hunter S. Thompson:

"[Thompson] was the great comic writer of the 20th century. I really do consider Hunter as being in the tradition of Mark Twain. Gonzo journalism, as he called it, is exactly what Twain did in things like The Innocents Abroad. You do some reporting of what's actually there, but you also let your imagination free. You're not deceiving anybody because they know that's what you do."

Wolfe has long cited Thompson as a major influence. To read the entire "10 Questions" interview, go here.