Keep This Quiet!: My Relationship with Hunter S. Thompson, Milton Klonsky, and Jan Mensaert

by Margaret A. Harrell, Hunter S. Thompson (Illustrator), Jan Mensaert (Photographer)

Overview

"Hunter often said Harrell was the best copy editor he'd ever worked with" (William McKeen, "Outlaw Journalist"). But what was the rest of the story? "Keep This Quiet" captures the fear and loathing, charm and romance of Hunter in the late Sixties - along with tales of two other underground authors. Included are genuine, funny letters he sent Margaret during and after the publication of "Hell's Angels." Also, priceless reminiscences of some of Hunter's oldest friends: William Kennedy, David Pierce, Rosalie Sorrels, and editor Jim Silberman - covered in no other account. Featured in addition are "poète maudit" Jan Mensaert and Greenwich Village "poet genius" Milton Klonsky. Also, Hunter's sidekick Oscar Acosta.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983704508
Publisher:	Saeculum University Press of NC
Publication date:	09/20/2011
Series:	Keep This Quiet! I
Pages:	258
Sales rank:	962,160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

The author of eight books in the "Love in Transition: Voyage ofUlysses-Letters to Penelope" nonfiction series, including "Towarda Philosophy of Perception" and "Marking Time with Faulkner," Harrell copy edited Hunter Thompson'sfirst book, "Hell's Angels," at Random House. HST acknowledgedher in "Gonzo Letters" 2. She is also an editor, cloud photographer,and mentor to people trying to maximize their potential. Academically, she graduated from Duke University and Columbia University and attended the C. G. Jung Institute Zurich. She lived a long time in Belgium, years in Morocco, and several years in New York City, and currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface xiii
Author's Note xv
Prologue: My Personal Myth xvii

PART ONE

The Top of the Stairs 1

PART TWO

March in Paris 17
Meeting Jean-Marie (Jan) Mensaert 25
Meeting Milton Klonsky 39
On a Downslope 57
Meeting Hunter S. Thompson 63
The Martyred Wizard in New York 91
Hunter: Rendezvous in L. A. 105
HST: The Red Ink Letters 117
Jan Makes Noise, Milton Emerges 129
Hunter in the Woods 133
Hunter: Snake at R. H. 145
Oscar Acosta 153
The End of R. H. 161
After Random House 169
HST: The Outer Banks, Jean-Claude Killy 185
The Tirlemont Syndrome 201
Hunter's "Grain of Sand" 207
Epilogue: "How It's Working Out" 215

Notes 217
Works Cited 221
Index 227

What People are Saying About This

Marty Flynn

To have had a large part in the process of the publishing of Thompson's Hell's Angels must have been a huge thing. To have dealt with him during these times must have been fascinating. I'm looking forward to reading it and spreading the word. (Marty Flynn, http:/hstbooks.org)

Martin Flynn

Margaret Harrell baited the hook and I bit. Boy did I bite. . . She used titillation, and a masterful way of revealing herself to build engrossment, starting with Keep This Quiet! ANY thinking, living person will be locked in from the beginning. A knowledge of the three men is not a must. She oozes sexuality, sensuality and I believe these traits go towards interweaving the three men. I believe it to be s pellbinding. A hot sweaty tango of words. The bottom line is this. Not many books fulfill my reading needs. By this I mean covering a range of emotion. Keep This Quiet Too! did it for me. I loved it
—Martin Flynn (owner of hstbooks.org)

Chris Van de Velde

Telling the story again, restory-ing and so restoring the lives of four artists. That is what Margaret A. Harrell shows in an exemplary soul-mining fashion and spirit-suited flight. It takes the reader to the kitchen where creativity is hot, also in the passions of love. A book with so many dimensions is a gift with many surprises in it. Thanks for this treat, Margaret!
—Chris Van de Velde (philosopher, writer, teacher, and therapeutic coach)

Bernie Nelson

Readers will be privy to never-before-published letters from Hunter Thompson, deepening insight into the turning point in his career and emergence into gonzo. (Bernie Nelson, publisher of The Mindquest Review)

William McKeen

Keep your eyes peeled for this new book by Margaret Harrell, the editor who guided Hunter through Hell's Angels. Hunter often said she was the best editor he ever worked with and they were close friends. I read the manuscript and I think Hunter's fans will appreciate this view of the man's life and work. (William McKeen, Outlaw Journalist Facebook page)

Alice Osborne

Keep This Quiet Too! starts off as Margaret Harrell’s immersion in the art, music, and literature of Mensaert, Thompson, and Klonsky but becomes something much more
—ALICE OSBORNE (author of After the Steaming Stops and Unfinished Projects)

Frank Despriet

Margaret’s life is, as always, more amazing than any book. If I didn’t know Margaret, I wouldn’t believe her incredible life story. But I know her and I can tell you: all of it is true
—FRANK DESPRIET (author of Communication Psychology: From Reptile to Robot)

Russell D. Park

Deep and provocative . . . insightful . . . unique, for sure!
—RUSSELL D. PARK (licensed clinical psychologist, coauthor of The Power of Humility)

Virginia Parrott Williams

Margaret Harrell from early on had as her goal to live the most meaningful life possible. Three mentor/lovers helped in turn to light her way: Hunter Thompson for his ability to see the world for himself through as few distorting cultural lens as possible; Milton Klonsky for his deep wisdom and nurturing of the intelligence and sensitivity he saw within her; and the man she married, the Belgium poet Jan Mensaert, who sought out extreme experiences, encouraging her to come along and test her own limits. (Virginia Parrott Williams, coauthor of Anger Kills and In Control)

Rory Feehan

I would like to review your upcoming book Keep This Quiet for my website. I also believe that it will be a vital source in relation to my [PhD] thesis, of which I have an entire chapter covering the Hell's Angels period. (Rory Feehan, http://totallygonzo.org)

Bernie P. Nelson

Like a radio station with its own incomparable frequency, the inspiring book tunes readers’ receivers, sagaciously transporting them to . . . that quiet part of our psyche t hat knows no limitations or boundaries. Readers will experience new insights into the personal lives, talents, and the author’s intimate relationships with Hunter S. Thompson, t he father of Gonzo Journalism; Milton Klonsky, New York City poet with transformative word power and magnetic personality; Jan Mensaert, Belgian poet combining concepts of his music with his poetry
—BERNIE P. NELSON (publisher of The Mindquest Review)

Editorial Reviews

"Harrell is an excellent storyteller, in a story that is never about the narrative, but about the real people. Every person in the book is bold and well defined" - San Francisco Book Review

"Harrell beautifully tells the story of how her relationships with the three men, predominantly Thompson, progressed, sharing intimate moments and keeping the reader turning the page - Portland Book Review"

"If you want to know what the Sixties were really like, read 'Keep This Quiet: A Memoir.' It's all there: the openness, the hope, the ideals, the risks, the highs and lows, the travel, the love" - Robert Morgan, author of "Gap Creek" and "Terroir"

"A Feast for the Gonzo Soul"-Martin Flynn, owner of www.hstbooks.org

"Margaret Harrell's Keep This Quiet offers an illuminating look at Hunter S. Thompson in full throttle trying to make it as a Top Notch prose-stylist. Harrell fills in many important biographical gaps. A welcome addition to what is becoming the HST cottage industry. Read it"-Douglas Brinkley, editor of The Proud Highway and Fear and Loathing in America

"Keep This Quiet! is a moving read and much recommended to any literary studies or memoir collection"-Midwest Book Review

"In the ever expanding list of biographies and memoirs about Hunter S. Thompson, this latest offering, Keep This Quiet! by Margaret A. Harrell, is quite simply a breath of fresh air. . . . What sets 'Keep This Quiet!' apart is the extent to which Harrell explores the question of identity and myth, in her quest to simultaneously answer questions concerning her own character and that of one Hunter S. Thompson . . . In closing, this book is a joy to read, particularly for anyone that has that urge to express themselves through the creative arts in all their forms."

From the Publisher

Hunter S. Thompson is perhaps one of the most enigmatic figures of the twentieth century. "Keep This Quiet! My Relationship with Hunter S. Thompson, Milton Klonsky, and Jan Mensaert" is a memoir from Margaret A. Harrell as she discusses her own way with many of the legends of the literary world in the middle of the twentieth century. With a solid dose of humor and another perspective on these writers from a personal friend, "Keep This Quiet!" is a moving read and much recommended to any literary studies or memoir collection.

Midwest Book Review

Beautiful in its directness and its openness. (Chris Van de Velde, Numenon Counseling Institute Director, Ghent, Belgium)

Chris Van de Velde

Readers will be privy to never-before-published letters from Hunter Thompson, deepening insight into the turning point in his career and emergence into gonzo
— The MindQuest Review

Bernie Nelson

Harrell's memoir details her relationships with Hunter S. Thompson, Milton Klonsky and Jan Mensaert, and how these partners influenced her life by the way in which they lived their own. Harrell (Toward a Philosophy of Perception, 2005, etc.) becomes acquainted with the self-styled "Gonzo" journalist Thompson while helping to edit his first book, Hell's Angels (1967). She meets the Belgian poet Jean-Marie (Jan) Mensaert by chance outside a coffeehouse in Marrakech, and she discovers New York poet Milton Klonsky in a West Village bistro. Though disparate in age, temperament and locale, all three attracted the author because of her sense that they symbolized the zeitgeist of the 1960s and the coming post-modern era. Each man was fiercely individualistic, consciously deciding to live on his own terms in his life and work. For their part, all were physically attracted to Harrell, as well as finding in her a kindred spirit. Her relationship with Thompson is the only one that ever becomes, for a brief period, physical. Harrell's deep emotional attachment to the men sometimes undermines her explanations about why she thought each of them possessed genius. There is scant example of their actual writing, the focus being on their struggles—with varying degrees of success—to be properly acknowledged for it. Trying to describe how she knew the men were important writers, she resorts to language like "falling into vibrations" in their presence or quotes bits of conversations she had with them. For instance, Klonsky tells her, "Write it, your life, as you would write a novel." Still, there is a sense in which her personal, subjective approach is often effective; the reader comes to feel an affinity with the trio of writers in their attempts to achieve their iconoclastic visions of success, glimpsing them as individuals beyond their work, seeing how they think. Their genius, for Harrell, consisted of their being wholly themselves. Memoir will likely please Hunter S. Thompson fans and appeal to readers with an interest in the beginnings of the post-modern era or the personal sacrifices involved in bringing serious written work to fruition.

Kirkus Reviews

"A passionately written memoir that doesn't sit around being fit and proper and straight laced. . . . As a key to the lives of these three writers it is idiosyncratic and in an age where blandness is the norm it is a pleasure to go on her journey and find out a little about what made these men tick and what drove her to them."

Eric Jacobs - Beat Scene # 70