Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe
Wolfe in 1988
Wolfe in 1988
BornThomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr.
(1930-03-02)March 2, 1930
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
DiedMay 14, 2018(2018-05-14) (aged 88)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • author
Education
Period1959–2016
Literary movementNew Journalism
Notable works
Spouse
Sheila Berger
(m. 1978)
[1]
Children2

Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)[a] was an American author and journalist widely known for his association with New Journalism, a style of news writing and journalism developed in the 1960s and 1970s that incorporated literary techniques. Much of Wolfe's work was satirical and centred on the counterculture of the 1960s and issues related to class, social status, and the lifestyles of the economic and intellectual elites of New York City.

Wolfe began his career as a regional newspaper reporter in the 1950s, achieving national prominence in the 1960s following the publication of such best-selling books as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (an account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters) and two collections of articles and essays, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby and Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers. In 1979, he published the influential book The Right Stuff about the Mercury Seven astronauts, which was made into a 1983 film of the same name directed by Philip Kaufman.

His first novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, published in 1987, was met with critical acclaim and also became a commercial success. Its adaptation as a motion picture of the same name, directed by Brian De Palma, was a critical and commercial failure.

  1. ^ "Tom Wolfe, Author, Weds Sheila Berger". The New York Times. May 28, 1978. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 19, 2021.


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