Author Topic: Tom Wolfe, 88  (Read 1236 times)

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Offline Libertas

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Tom Wolfe, 88
« on: May 15, 2018, 07:23:20 PM »
I read "Bonfire" for a Lit class as an undergrad, kinda long and didn't care for it too much...but "The Right Stuff" as a book was fabulous, and the movie version not bad either overall.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/obituaries/tom-wolfe-pyrotechnic-nonfiction-writer-and-novelist-dies-at-88.html
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Online Syzygy

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Re: Tom Wolfe, 88
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2018, 09:53:45 PM »
I subscribed to Book Digest,  way back when,  and a couple of his were featured then:  From Bauhaus to Our House,  and The Right Stuff. 

The former I enjoyed most,  since it was all about lambasting modern architecture,  and fairly well captured my thoughts on the subject,  plus much better stuff,  too--stuff that never entered my thoughts...ever. 

He was the "fair haired,  most favored child,"   among several professors teaching classes in communications,  primarily journalism,  that I had the privilege to learn at the feet of (<<<<don't know how he felt about ending a sentence with a preposition).  His was a "different...avant garde...gonzo...liberated...blah....blah...blah..." writing style: 

"...a BOX...of glass and steel..."

(Used many,  many times in "...Bauhaus to ....",  to describe,  very accurately,  I concur,  the architecture back then--just look at the Twin Towers.)

And then,  he was a bit quirky,  or maybe eccentric,  what with his rather affected dress and gait.  Was he gay?   Not that it matters,  mind you.  Just that I always thought he missed a good chance of being gay,  that is,  if he's not already (make that "he's" a contraction for "he was",  not "he is",  please).  Quite an odd little man,   regardless. 

Finally (maybe not an apropos word at this time--FINALly--but I digress...DAMMIT! Done it again.),  I'm sitting here looking at one of his final (there's that word again) books,  perhaps the penultimate:  Back to Blood (2012).   

Got it at the Dollar Tree for guess how much.  Nooooo...guess again. 

Was perusing it the other night--the acknowledgements and prologue--and,  seriously,  I don't know if I have evolved to such a level of sophistication as he seems to have done over the years.  Just a little too "cutsie" for my tastes.  And I no longer have the patience to cipher.  I'll give it a go,  nonetheless...eventually. 

But,  at least the man wrote,  dammit,  wrote well on many occasions,  and seemed to enjoy his long life.  That's a good thing.  No...that's a damn good thing. 

RIP,  Mr. Wolfe. 
 


Offline Libertas

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Re: Tom Wolfe, 88
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2018, 08:17:44 AM »
He definitely set his own course and in America of today that in itself is a lost art in this led-by-the-nose herd society.  And there is no doubt the man could write!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.