Raoul Duke
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Raoul Duke was the pseudonym used by Hunter S. Thompson for the character based on him in his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Fear and Loathing was originally written under the name Raoul Duke, and Thompson periodically used the pen name for some of his later articles.
[edit] Thompson's alter ego
Duke is the main character and narrator of many of Thompson's stories, novels, and articles, often taking part of events in Thompson's life in Thompson's place. He is portrayed as an eccentric, deeply cynical hedonist with a myriad of drug addictions and a bottomless contempt for conservative American values. He is in a near-perpetual state of intoxication on whatever drugs that are available, ranging from marijuana and LSD to ether, cocaine and even human adrenaline. He usually obtains and consumes these substances in the company of his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, a half-crazed Samoan whose drug-induced frenzies give even Duke pause. (Thompson based Gonzo on his friend, the late civil rights lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta.)
Duke is first mentioned by Thompson in his 1966 book Hell's Angels, where he is described as an outlaw with "that extra 'something'", meaning that although he breaks the law he does so in a way that is not offensive to society, but that, in fact, makes him more acceptable.
Duke is often characterised as being somewhat of an author surrogate, a source of quotes and opinions that Thompson would not necessarily be able to get away with himself. His forename, according to Thompson in interviews, was inspired by 'Raúl Castro', brother of Fidel Castro, and was probably originated as a pseudonym used to check into hotels, as in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Duke was also used so that Thompson could talk about himself - after a diving accident Thompson had to spend some time in a decompression chamber, and wrote a letter signed 'Raoul Duke' in which the pseudonym described the insanity of Thompson's condition in the chamber - holding up scrawled notes to the single glass window and ordering a television set to watch coverage of the Watergate hearings. The letter appeared in Rolling Stone in August 1973.
In The Great Shark Hunt (a large selection of articles written by Thompson) Raoul Duke's name is the one that appears on several essays that were published in newspapers and magazines, including the 'Police Chief', an article published by Scanlan's Monthly (June 1970) in which Duke is apparently an ex-police chief raging at the inadequate amount of real 'weaponry' used by the police and advertised in the (presumably invented) 'Police Chief' magazine. It was signed 'Raoul Duke (Master of Weaponry)'.
In Fear and Loathing: on the Campaign Trail '72, Thompson describes Raoul Duke as a sports writer friend, one of the few journalists who can truly write objectively instead of just talking about it. In the same section, Thompson calls journalistic objectivity "a pompous contradiction in terms", and warns the reader not to look for it under his byline.
[edit] In other media
In the film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Duke was played by Johnny Depp.
In Where the Buffalo Roam, a movie based on various stories, Hunter S. Thompson is played by Bill Murray.
In the comic strip Doonesbury, the character of Uncle Duke, who is based on Thompson, is named for the Fear and Loathing character.
Essex-born comedian Alex McNamara has used the Raoul Duke character in some of his shows.
