Tom Wolfe, journalist and author, wearer of white suits, died on May 14th.  (Photographs today in his honor therefor are white flowers. All, by the way, in bloom around late May, early June.)

He was probably unsurpassed in choosing some weird titles – just think back to his exploration of California car culture for Esquire– “There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy Kolored (Thphhhhhh!) Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby . . .” but is most widely known for his novel Bonfire of the Vanities, a book that dissected the culture and power structures of NYC.

Wolfe was a brilliant journalist writing non-fiction before he turned to novels – and went back to non-fiction writing (with limited success, later) in the last years of his life. One of the founders of New Journalism, adding literary writing to reporting, he explored different worlds and delivered detailed, funny, critical descriptions to us readers of Rolling Stone or other publications.  Here is a fitting obituary from the magazine he was so closely tied to.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tom-wolfe-life-genius-impact-legacy-w520764

I am posting two interviews with him today, one from 1975 about his assessment of the art world, obviously close to my heart as a topic, and one about his take on Darwin (one I could not disagree with more, since he doesn’t even get the facts straight.) The latter was done late in his life, and I find it fascinating how a non-scientist takes on one of the fundamental theories on which so much of our science is based.

What interests me in the man and the work, is this curiosity and insistence on learning, that he displayed across an insanely wide array of topics. Whether he got it right or not is secondary to me, given that a critical reader can form her own opinion. He was clever and funny, and actually an incredible informant for a European reading him before being immersed into American culture. Never mind his knack for fashion……

RIP.