Oh, no!
I've spent three months devouring with delight the written work of Tom Wolfe. Prodigious over a lengthy 60-year career, Tom wrote 18 books and 110 magazine articles. As euphoric as I've been reading his Promethean oeuvre, I'm equally saddened realizing I'm near the end. I've read all of Wolfe's major works (e.g., "The Right Stuff", "Radical Chic", "Back to Blood") and am almost done with lesser-known stuff. Worth noting is that even these pieces -- on subjects you don't expect to care about (like the history of architecture) -- are fascinatingly presented. Tom makes them come alive with humor and insight.
I can't nudge Wolfe into writing more since he's, um, dead so the only alternative is to dive into his literary archive. It's housed at the New York Public Library. I'm agog to go there next year and explore Tom's drafts, correspondence and personal memorabilia. I also want to visit the archive to pay respect to a hierophant.
In the last book I read ("Hooking Up") there are several passages with éclat:
- "...sitting there as primly erect as a 13-year old girl on a horse at a horse show."
- "...her prose style...had a handicapped parking sticker."
- "this big egomaniac garruling around town and batting everyone over the head with his ego as if it were a pig bladder."
- "Moral indignation is a technique used to endow the idiot with dignity."
- "...wringing his heart out and pouring soul all over you."
Tom Wolfe is a writer whose artistic effort deserves acclaim. I, for one, am applauding.
Oh no! I always hate when I hit the end of a series or author's works. My usual suggestion is to find out what that author read or reads. Checking out their unfinished works is an option I haven't considered, though congrats on the appointment to check out more.
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion is a good one. Being a writer, Wolfe often said which earlier writers he admired and was influenced by: e.g., Balzac, Zola, H.L. Mencken. I'll naturally look at those authors for similar work.
DeleteOne thing that hasn't been successful for me is trying authors by reputation. Many writers popular in "literary circles" haven't impressed me; their work seems sterile and designed for boring college professors, not engaged readers. Wolfe himself wrote about this when one of his books -- a best seller ("A Man In Full") -- was savaged by three old literary guys (Norman Mailer, John Updike, et al.). Wolfe described them as "My Three Stooges"!
LOL! I definitely take recommendations with many grains of salt. I've always preferred my haphazard approach to reading. While popular items can be good, not all that is popular IS good. My library recently moved to a new location, and I'm overdue for a perusal through the stacks (and perhaps should make a bigger dent in my purchased books haha!)
DeleteOh, that's really bittersweet to be nearing the end of his published works but kudos to you for seeking out his other works in the archive! I LOVE the quotes you included. Nice figurative language and very pithy and scathing style! I cannot bear to read the final works of Eva Ibbotson and Terry Pratchett for the very reason I can't bear to know there is no more to read. I also think of Terry Pratchett's final work, Shepherd's Crown as giving me a connection to my family friend, Auntie Norma, as we talked about it when she was ill but before we KNEW she was ill. I remember distinctly phoning her as I walked home from the station, I reached the park as she mentioned that she had felt it really sad reading his last book, and she was the one who introduced me to him so I feel like it is a connection to her.
ReplyDeleteHope you are well!
xx
Oh, what a heartbreaking story. We humans associate experiences with people so I grasp your story. Thank you for sharing it, dear.
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