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Tom Wolfe Has Died

nytimes.com

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Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#81

Post by ghaff »

shampto3 wrote: post #34
hcurtiss wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you get this impression of Wolfe?

While I may not agree with the parent's comment, it appears he is referring to the term "New Journalism" which encourages a subjective point of view. This term was apparently "codified with its current meaning by Tom Wolfe" [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Journalism

While I really liked The Right Stuff, this is the basic problem I have with elevating it above, say, Bonfire of the Vanities. It’s presented in the vein of a historical account but you’re also presumably not expected to put too much faith in specific details and characterizations. Everything is subjective at some level of course but I’m not really a fan of it’s factual except when things need to be colored to make a better story.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#82

Post by Balgair »

tnolet wrote: post #60
quantumofmalice wrote: post #42

Very sad to hear. His book "From Bauhaus to Our House" changed my life, finally giving me a plausible explanation as to how we managed to create such a horrific built environment post WW2.

I love that book! Was actually compulsory reading during my art history studies.

I'll echo this book as well. A great dive into why every damn sky-rise seems to be nothing but glass panels. Short read too.

https://www.amazon.com/Bauhaus-Our-House-Tom-Wolfe/dp/031242...

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#83

Post by Balgair »

cpr wrote: post #71
teachrdan wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious myself. What little I've read of it made it seem like a sensationalized account of how young women in college are imagined to behave, as per an out-of-touch old man.

He supposedly did a lot of research on just how the hook-up culture on campuses worked. (Don't mean that cynically or suggestively--just that he always worked hard for his source material.)

I read this while in college, and it was, well, horrible. The characters were terrible and unbelievable. Maybe 50 years on it will be something of a good intro to college life in the 2000s, but I disliked it.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#84

Post by Applejinx »

quantumofmalice wrote: post #42

Very sad to hear. His book "From Bauhaus to Our House" changed my life, finally giving me a plausible explanation as to how we managed to create such a horrific built environment post WW2.

"The Painted Word" is also fantastic, if you liked "From Bauhaus to Our House". Similar approach.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#85

Post by quantumofmalice »

Applejinx wrote: post #84
quantumofmalice wrote: post #42

Very sad to hear. His book "From Bauhaus to Our House" changed my life, finally giving me a plausible explanation as to how we managed to create such a horrific built environment post WW2.

"The Painted Word" is also fantastic, if you liked "From Bauhaus to Our House". Similar approach.

Yes, that is a great book as well.

I think "From Bauhause to Our House" is more important because we can survive a period of terrible art: most people will simply ignore it and when it is over you can throw most of it into the dumpster easily enough.

Unfortunately we are not free to ignore the work of architects, and correcting their mistakes will take us centuries.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#86

Post by bch »

dang wrote: post #47
segmondy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You denied other's the chance to do the same. You need to make amends.

wallflower has more than made amends by providing some of the best reading on Hacker News for many years.

I’m not really fussed by ‘wallflowers transgression, but I find rationalizing stealing from a public library by posting in an a Gucci tech/business website a bit problematic.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#87

Post by openforce »

segmondy wrote: post #19
wallflower wrote: post #12

I remember discovering "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" in my high school library. I eventually stole it by taking out the plastic-encased metal security dingy and devoured it more. I read it over and over until the paperback fell apart. It introduced me to a world so foreign and sparkly and rusty dangerous and yet so real. RIP Tom Wolfe for bringing us into your worlds of observation and intrigue.

You denied other's the chance to do the same. You need to make amends.

The only copy in my local library had over 30 holds. They said they used to have a second copy until ...

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#88

Post by vermontdevil »

Tom Wolfe writing on hangovers:

The telephone blasted Peter Fallow awake inside an egg with the shell peeled away and only the membranous sac holding it intact. Ah! The membranous sac was his head, and the right side of his head was on the pillow, and the yolk was as heavy as mercury, and it rolled like mercury, and it was pressing down on his right temple… If he tried to get up to answer the telephone, the yolk, the mercury, the poisoned mass, would shift and roll and rupture the sac, and his brains would fall out.”

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#89

Post by beautifulfreak »

He was also a prolific letter writer. A very smart friend of mine was his personal trainer when he stayed in the Hamptons, and the two struck up a friendship. Wolfe corresponded with him, sending long handwritten letters. Maybe it was part of his research process, but I think he just liked people and was genuinely curious about others.

Re: Tom Wolfe Has Died

#90

Post by ghaff »

macintux wrote: post #27
rhapsodic wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hollywood turned the book into a terrible movie that ruins the story; I would avoid the movie if you have any interest in reading the book. I saw the movie when it first came out but never read the book. I thought the movie was good and couldn't understand why it got so many bad reviews. What made the book so much better?

I can't speak to either the movie or the book, but I've found it interesting that whenever I see a movie before reading the source, I'm pretty happy with the movie, but rarely am I satisfied with the movie when I've read the book first. The subtle nuances and key moments that I love are rarely translated to the screen. It's perfectly understandable, because they're two very different forms of fiction and the movie ra…

The book was brilliantly written and really captured a time and place. The movie was just meh.

Maybe, absent a book, the movie was just mostly forgettable. There were better films involving 80s financial types like Wall Street. But we’d probably remember Bonfire as a minor film that largely wasted star power through miscasting etc. rather than a bomb.

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