What a great post. I have loved Tom Wolfe since I read Electric Kool Aid Acid Test in high school. Even at that young age, I could tell Wolfe wasn't impressed with the childishness of the Merry Pranksters. And whenever I see Al Sharpton today, I think of Reverend Bacon from Bonfire of the Vanities.
As much as possible, I use my Kindle as an eReader only. I buy inexpensive digital collections of classics from delphiclassics.com, or download free copies from standardebooks.org. I don't trust Amazon to preserve original versions. Last night I reread Flannery O'Connor's short story, "Revelation", and I wondered how long that will remain available with its repeated use of racial slurs -which are used to make the main point of the story - but that is something that a lot of people today won't get.
I love O’Connor’s stories and sometimes wonder the same thing given how many mid century authors are being “revised” to make them more palatable for modern readers.
I have to admit that I have never read anything by Tom Wolfe, although I am certainly familiar with his name (there is simply only so much time to read and there are still so many classics to get through...) and the background you provide sounds fascinating.
I have profound skepticism of digitizing books to "preserve" them, for the exact reason you note here. I indeed collect physical books so that my children can have them for their own home libraries once they move out. In a news piece I read about the Peel District School Board here in Ontario, I was horrified to learn that they emptied the school library of all books that were written before 2008 (including Anne Frank!) because of "lack of diversity". They did not even pass them on, but instead sent them to the landfill. Digitizing books under authorities who decide what should be read is a dangerous endeavor that will most certainly doom countless books down the memory hole.
I almost included that story in this piece! It’s a shocking example of how fragile holdings can be. Nothing before 2008?! It’s crazy that it happened at a school but exposes something disturbing about modern education, at least in pockets: It’s not about education; it’s about indoctrination.
It is indeed shocking, and many parents are completely unaware of these changes. I used to report on educational/homeschooling news on a weekly basis on a radio show and was surprised that most parents do not follow the changes in teaching (e.g. content, methods, lowering of reading/math/writing standards, lack of testing, removal of academic stream, etc.) at all. I have great respect for teachers and the monumental task they face, but am appalled that school boards would order a modern-day book burning.
Glad to hear Wolfe is continuing to get the recognition he deserves! I honestly believe he is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century, not just for his journalism but for his journalistic stance toward fiction. Perhaps this documentary will be the spark that ignites a collected edition of his works; some of his most important essays have never been reproduced in book form ("Stalking the Billion-Footed-Beast" and "The Worship of Art" still languish behind a paywall on the Harper's website). Thanks for the excellent synopsis of his work and perspective, and I will certainly make a point of seeing Richard Dewey's documentary when it is released.
Yeah, I was pretty excited to hear about it too. I’ve read him over the years, never in a concerted way. But I’ve enjoyed most of his work. He’s a hoot and sometimes very compelling. The first thing I read I actually didn’t read—it was the audio-original novella, Ambush at Fort Bragg, eventually printed in a larger collection. Then I read the Right Stuff and was hooked. I went back and read a bunch of his journalism from the 70s and early 80s and enjoyed that immensely. Man, that guy could tell a story.
That idea of Tom Wolfe choosing not to fit in reminds me of a story I heard on Fresh Air (I think). He was famous, of course, for his dapper clothes. But when he went to the wilds of North Carolina to research the Junior Johnson story ("The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes!" available in the Esquire archives, and one of my all-time favorite articles), he decided to dress down, the better to fit in with the locals. Only his idea of dressing down was to wear a green tweed suit and a black knit tie to various garages and diners and moonshine operations around North Wilkesboro. Eventually Junior Johnson pulled him aside and asked him to reconsider his wardrobe. Junior had grown tired of answering questions about the “little green man” who was following him around.
According to Tom Wolfe, that was the last time he ever tried to fit in with his subjects while doing research for a story. At some point, in fact, he started wearing a white linen suit everywhere he went. Since he seemed to be terrible at fitting in anyway, this was probably a good decision. But more importantly, he found it helpful to come into a situation as “a man from Mars” who didn’t even pretend to know what was going on. It gave him permission to ask dumb questions.
Yes! That comes up in the conversation between Tierney and Dewey.
“The white suit was one way that Wolfe could make himself more interesting,” says Dewey. “And in some ways it also, he claimed, served a purpose in that people were more likely to talk to him because he just looked like a man from Mars. He didn’t look like a typical journalist, and it sort of was a way that he could make subjects feel a little bit more at ease.”
Then Tierney jumps in with this: “I remember he once talked about hanging out with the Merry Pranksters and Ken Kesey and that he just kept the suit on the whole time. He said, you should never try to fit in with the environment. You should always keep your status as an observer and who you are, so you’re not trying to mimic them. And I guess that’s part of his secret.
“I remember he also once said that he’d bought that white suit because he didn’t have much money, and he bought a suit because what they wore in the South in the summer, and it turned out to be too warm a suit to wear in the summer because it was wool, so he just wore it in the winter, he then said, and it really annoyed people, and he liked that, so he just kept wearing it because it annoyed people so much that he was breaking the after-Labor Day rule that you can’t wear white, which is certainly a part of his personality that enabled him to just go after all those sacred cows.”
So good. I recently added Talese to my "to read" pile. Didion is so good too. Of course, this article is about Wolfe, overall but you mention all those others. Writer are lucky if they get mentioned in the same breath of memory as other writers I suppose.
Thanks for such a great post on Tom Wolfe. In addition to all his other work, he also had a short book on modern art called *The Painted Word* and another short book on architecture called *From Bauhaus to Our House*, which are great introductions to his willingness to challenge elite opinions as well as his great prose style.
Great piece, Joel, I have long been a big Tom Wolfe fan, and I loved The Right Stuff, and one you didn't mention, but was much better than movie, "Bonfire of the Vanities." I really liked how you interwove this with the story-behind-the-story, about their partners and their influence on preserving their legacies. It is amazing how Wolfe continually seemed to capture the zeitgist, as you describe, much like Oliver Stone has done in movies. Thank you sharing, Joel :)
What a great post. I have loved Tom Wolfe since I read Electric Kool Aid Acid Test in high school. Even at that young age, I could tell Wolfe wasn't impressed with the childishness of the Merry Pranksters. And whenever I see Al Sharpton today, I think of Reverend Bacon from Bonfire of the Vanities.
As much as possible, I use my Kindle as an eReader only. I buy inexpensive digital collections of classics from delphiclassics.com, or download free copies from standardebooks.org. I don't trust Amazon to preserve original versions. Last night I reread Flannery O'Connor's short story, "Revelation", and I wondered how long that will remain available with its repeated use of racial slurs -which are used to make the main point of the story - but that is something that a lot of people today won't get.
I love O’Connor’s stories and sometimes wonder the same thing given how many mid century authors are being “revised” to make them more palatable for modern readers.
I have to admit that I have never read anything by Tom Wolfe, although I am certainly familiar with his name (there is simply only so much time to read and there are still so many classics to get through...) and the background you provide sounds fascinating.
I have profound skepticism of digitizing books to "preserve" them, for the exact reason you note here. I indeed collect physical books so that my children can have them for their own home libraries once they move out. In a news piece I read about the Peel District School Board here in Ontario, I was horrified to learn that they emptied the school library of all books that were written before 2008 (including Anne Frank!) because of "lack of diversity". They did not even pass them on, but instead sent them to the landfill. Digitizing books under authorities who decide what should be read is a dangerous endeavor that will most certainly doom countless books down the memory hole.
I almost included that story in this piece! It’s a shocking example of how fragile holdings can be. Nothing before 2008?! It’s crazy that it happened at a school but exposes something disturbing about modern education, at least in pockets: It’s not about education; it’s about indoctrination.
It is indeed shocking, and many parents are completely unaware of these changes. I used to report on educational/homeschooling news on a weekly basis on a radio show and was surprised that most parents do not follow the changes in teaching (e.g. content, methods, lowering of reading/math/writing standards, lack of testing, removal of academic stream, etc.) at all. I have great respect for teachers and the monumental task they face, but am appalled that school boards would order a modern-day book burning.
Glad to hear Wolfe is continuing to get the recognition he deserves! I honestly believe he is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century, not just for his journalism but for his journalistic stance toward fiction. Perhaps this documentary will be the spark that ignites a collected edition of his works; some of his most important essays have never been reproduced in book form ("Stalking the Billion-Footed-Beast" and "The Worship of Art" still languish behind a paywall on the Harper's website). Thanks for the excellent synopsis of his work and perspective, and I will certainly make a point of seeing Richard Dewey's documentary when it is released.
Yeah, I was pretty excited to hear about it too. I’ve read him over the years, never in a concerted way. But I’ve enjoyed most of his work. He’s a hoot and sometimes very compelling. The first thing I read I actually didn’t read—it was the audio-original novella, Ambush at Fort Bragg, eventually printed in a larger collection. Then I read the Right Stuff and was hooked. I went back and read a bunch of his journalism from the 70s and early 80s and enjoyed that immensely. Man, that guy could tell a story.
Wolfe's small book on modern architecture is hilarious.
That idea of Tom Wolfe choosing not to fit in reminds me of a story I heard on Fresh Air (I think). He was famous, of course, for his dapper clothes. But when he went to the wilds of North Carolina to research the Junior Johnson story ("The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes!" available in the Esquire archives, and one of my all-time favorite articles), he decided to dress down, the better to fit in with the locals. Only his idea of dressing down was to wear a green tweed suit and a black knit tie to various garages and diners and moonshine operations around North Wilkesboro. Eventually Junior Johnson pulled him aside and asked him to reconsider his wardrobe. Junior had grown tired of answering questions about the “little green man” who was following him around.
According to Tom Wolfe, that was the last time he ever tried to fit in with his subjects while doing research for a story. At some point, in fact, he started wearing a white linen suit everywhere he went. Since he seemed to be terrible at fitting in anyway, this was probably a good decision. But more importantly, he found it helpful to come into a situation as “a man from Mars” who didn’t even pretend to know what was going on. It gave him permission to ask dumb questions.
Yes! That comes up in the conversation between Tierney and Dewey.
“The white suit was one way that Wolfe could make himself more interesting,” says Dewey. “And in some ways it also, he claimed, served a purpose in that people were more likely to talk to him because he just looked like a man from Mars. He didn’t look like a typical journalist, and it sort of was a way that he could make subjects feel a little bit more at ease.”
Then Tierney jumps in with this: “I remember he once talked about hanging out with the Merry Pranksters and Ken Kesey and that he just kept the suit on the whole time. He said, you should never try to fit in with the environment. You should always keep your status as an observer and who you are, so you’re not trying to mimic them. And I guess that’s part of his secret.
“I remember he also once said that he’d bought that white suit because he didn’t have much money, and he bought a suit because what they wore in the South in the summer, and it turned out to be too warm a suit to wear in the summer because it was wool, so he just wore it in the winter, he then said, and it really annoyed people, and he liked that, so he just kept wearing it because it annoyed people so much that he was breaking the after-Labor Day rule that you can’t wear white, which is certainly a part of his personality that enabled him to just go after all those sacred cows.”
So good. I recently added Talese to my "to read" pile. Didion is so good too. Of course, this article is about Wolfe, overall but you mention all those others. Writer are lucky if they get mentioned in the same breath of memory as other writers I suppose.
It helps that they were all seen as part of a movement. But, of course, they all have to stand on their own. Didion certainly seems to have done that.
"he would pummel it to a pulp between sheets of paper and a barrage of typewriter keys." - Damn what a great line!
Wolfe has been on my TBR list for a while. It may very well ne time to move him up.
I couldn’t recommend The Right Stuff highly enough. It’s an incredible read.
Noted! And added to the list! Thanks again!
Here is a piece I recently did on my podcast about Wolfe: https://pubtv.flfnetwork.com/tabs/podcast/podcasts/8286/episodes/32
Thanks for sharing, George. I’m excited to hear this.
Thanks for such a great post on Tom Wolfe. In addition to all his other work, he also had a short book on modern art called *The Painted Word* and another short book on architecture called *From Bauhaus to Our House*, which are great introductions to his willingness to challenge elite opinions as well as his great prose style.
Great piece, Joel, I have long been a big Tom Wolfe fan, and I loved The Right Stuff, and one you didn't mention, but was much better than movie, "Bonfire of the Vanities." I really liked how you interwove this with the story-behind-the-story, about their partners and their influence on preserving their legacies. It is amazing how Wolfe continually seemed to capture the zeitgist, as you describe, much like Oliver Stone has done in movies. Thank you sharing, Joel :)