Tom Wolfe, Innovative Nonfiction Writer and Novelist, Dies
Source: The New York Times
By Deirdre Carmody
May 15, 2018
Tom Wolfe, an innovative journalist and novelist whose technicolor, wildly punctuated prose brought to life the worlds of California surfers, car customizers, astronauts and Manhattans moneyed status-seekers in works like The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities, died on Monday in a Manhattan hospital. He was 87.
His death was confirmed by his agent, Lynn Nesbit, who said Mr. Wolfe had been hospitalized with an infection. He had lived in New York since joining The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter in 1962.
In his use of novelistic techniques in his nonfiction, Mr. Wolfe, beginning in the 1960s, helped create the enormously influential hybrid known as the New Journalism.
But as an unabashed contrarian, he was almost as well known for his attire as his satire. He was instantly recognizable as he strolled down Madison Avenue a tall, slender, blue-eyed, still-boyish-looking man in his spotless three-piece vanilla bespoke suit, pinstriped silk shirt with a starched white high collar, bright handkerchief peeking from his breast pocket, watch on a fob, faux spats and white shoes. Once asked to describe his get-up, Mr. Wolfe replied brightly, Neo-pretentious.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/obituaries/tom-wolfe-pyrotechnic-nonfiction-writer-and-novelist-dies-at-87.html
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)a lot of journalists used the newsroom of the local paper where my father worked to write up their own coverage. Dad came into the newsroom one day to find this dandyish little guy in a white suit typing away. Dad introduced himself, and the little guy said "I'm Thomas Wolfe." This was before Wolfe was famous, and Dad knew this wasn't the guy who wrote "Look Homeward, Angel," so he said "Sure you are, buddy. Sure you are."
marble falls
(56,996 posts)as campaign manager, that Joe couldn't afford a landslide victory for Jack.
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)because she would sit up on any handy desk, light up and gossip with reporters. She was the antithesis of the prim and proper political wives he was used to seeing.
brush
(53,733 posts)The OP described him as tall and slender, not a little guy.
cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)and Wolfe was sitting down. Maybe that explains it. Actually, my father described any man under 6'3" as a "little guy." He told me he couldn't believe how short Tom Brokaw was, but I checked, and Brokaw is six feet tall.
logosoco
(3,208 posts)I enjoyed the way he described people, and not just what they were wearing.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)I read The Bonfire of the Vanities many years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it (way better than the hot mess of a movie)
Ohiogal
(31,895 posts)I read it when it first came out. Great descriptions and satire.
PufPuf23
(8,753 posts)Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.
Ligyron
(7,615 posts)Neil Cassady and the Pranksters. What a great time in the USA.
Tom Wolfe sure knew how to dress.
BigmanPigman
(51,563 posts)never budged from its original place...a personal favorite. I will light a white candle for him (his suit). I wish I could dose too. None around here for too long.
marble falls
(56,996 posts)bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)John Glenn, Chuck Yeager, Gus Grissom and others.
Also a pretty good movie too!
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)The book and the movie are two of my all-time faves.
nitpicker
(7,153 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,771 posts). . .where he absolutely, positively roasted upper-class Manhattan/Hamptons society when Leonard Bernstein threw a party for several members of the Black Panthers in 1968.
Trouble was, the only other African-Americans at the gathering were the ones serving the drinks and food.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/obituaries/tom-wolfe-pyrotechnic-nonfiction-writer-and-novelist-dies-at-88.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Do Panthers like little Roquefort cheese morsels rolled on crushed nuts this way, and asparagus tips in mayonnaise dabs, and meatballs petites au Coq Hardi, all of which are at the very moment being offered to them on gadrooned silver platters by maids in black uniforms with hand-ironed white aprons?, Mr. Wolfe wrote, outraging liberals and Panthers alike.
When a Time reporter asked a minister for the Black Panthers to comment on the accuracy of Mr. Wolfes account, he said, You mean that dirty, blatant, lying, racist dog who wrote that fascist disgusting thing in New York magazine?"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Priceless.
Ohiogal
(31,895 posts)Thanks for sharing that, DinahMoeHum!
DinahMoeHum
(21,771 posts)Last edited Wed May 16, 2018, 11:21 AM - Edit history (1)
http://nymag.com/news/features/46170/Have fun!!
ancianita
(35,926 posts)mountain grammy
(26,598 posts)RIP. One of my all time favorites ..
BeyondGeography
(39,341 posts)Props.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,006 posts)RIP
kwassa
(23,340 posts)He was good friends with a painting professor at the school, who was also a retro dandy.
denbot
(9,898 posts)I have yet to read Eletric Koolaid Acid Test, but I will give it a listen.