Journalist and writer Tom Wolfe: biography, creativity and interesting facts

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A person who is far from modern literature may have a question: who is Wolfe Tom?. But advanced readers have long known this prose and journalism experimenter well, thanks to his fascinating novels and non-fiction books. How did the writer's path develop?

Family and childhood

Tom Wolfe was born March 2, 1931 in Richmond, Virginia. The father of the future writer was a specialist in the field of agriculture. He conducted research, wrote scientific and popular articles in magazines. Mom was a medical student. After the birth of her son, she left her studies.

Tom's childhood was quite typical for the USA: school, active sports. Unless the boy read more than his peers. From childhood, Tom decided on a vocation - he wanted to be exclusively a writer. Already at the age of 9 he makes his first attempt to write a biography of Napoleon. Then he creates a book with his own illustrations about the life of Mozart. While studying at the Episcopal School. St. Christopher, he becomes the editor of the local newspaper. He started playing football at a young age. With timethe guy will grow into a semi-professional league.

Education

After school, Wolfe Tom enters the University of Washington and Lee in Lexington. During the years of study, he was engaged in the publication of the Shenandoah magazine. After graduating from university, Wolfe is studying at Yale University, where he receives a doctorate in American Studies. The topic of his dissertation is "Communist Activists Among American Writers 1927–42". It was quite polemical and even dangerous. And it showed how ready Wolfe is for the profession of a journalist. After the defense, he was made several offers to continue his scientific career, but he remembered his dream. His education was just another mandatory step on the way to his destiny. He always wanted to be a journalist and became one.

First steps in journalism

Wolf Tom makes his first experiences in professional journalism as a student. In 1956, he began working for The Republican, little by little. After graduation, he accepts an offer from a newspaper in Massachusetts - Springfield Union, where he will work for three years. After that, he was called to the Washington Post. Here he achieved his first significant successes. In this newspaper, he wrote 315 materials, in which he honed and shaped his subsequently famous "baroque" style of writing.

That's when he starts experimenting with language and presentation. His new style is built on the clash of opposites. For his review of the revolutionary events in Cuba, Woolf was awardedPrize of the Guild of Periodical Press Publishers. Colleagues noted him for humor in writing materials, as well as for successful experiments with the inclusion of fiction techniques in journalistic text. Wolfe's biographer, James Rosen, called his style "deadline journalism," full of stinging language and social commentary. These signs have become the trademark of the correspondent.

Life in New York

In 1962, Tom Wolfe moved to New York at the invitation of the New York Herald Tribune. Here he focuses his attention on the main trends in society. The man enthusiastically studies the "lifestyles" of American society, believing that it is through their understanding that one can penetrate both history and all the causes of modern events. The rapidly developing career of a novice journalist was almost interrupted by a protracted strike of newspaper workers. But the editor-in-chief of Esquire magazine - Byron Doubell - found a way out of this situation. He sent Tom to do a series of posts about the boosted car culture from California. So, unexpectedly, Wolfe's bestseller appeared, making him famous.

New Journalism

In this article we are trying to understand who Tom Wolfe is. Biography, books, reviews, quotes from texts will help open the audience of this interesting person. His statements become real catchphrases. They penetrate the speech of young Americans like advertising slogans. Wolfe himself at that time, performing the task of the editor-in-chief of Esquire magazine, was so carried away that he wrote insteadcommissioned series of reports an entire book. Not knowing what to do with such a voluminous text, he simply sent it to Byron Doubell. He, having read the material, realized that it would be blasphemy to turn it into a standard journalistic text. And he makes a series of author's reports out of it, which he publishes in several issues of his magazine. Some of the material was published in the New York Magazine and several other magazines.

Later, these texts are published in full in the form of a separate book with a breathtaking title: "Candy-colored orange-petal streamlined baby." The publication became the ancestor of a new type of literature, which the researchers called "new journalism". It collected sketches and descriptions of the mores of modern life in America. Her heroes were the stars of show business, sports, the fashion industry, as well as millionaires, outcasts, hippies and punks. Such a social profile allowed the journalist to see the life of the country in all its diversity and contradictions. For a month, the book withstood 4 additional print runs - so stunning was its success. It has become a real guide to modern America. Tom Wolfe found his way and his style in journalism. And then he moved in that direction. In 1973, Wolfe, together with colleagues, publishes a manifesto of "new journalism", which prescribes the main postulates of modern media.

Literary heritage

Wolfe Tom, whose brief biography can be described in two words - "writer and correspondent", has always strived to create not just journalistic material, butIt's a documentary work. In a found niche and in his own unique manner, he writes the most famous book about the current era: "Electric Cooling Acid Test". Its purpose was to study and describe the phenomenon of the cult of the writer Ken Kesey. But, in the end, it turned into an unusual analysis of modern culture and American society. In order to collect the necessary material, the journalist spent a whole month in the Merry Pranksters community, who practiced “expansion of consciousness” with the help of psychotropic drugs. He also collected a lot of additional materials in the form of photos, interviews, audio and video recordings. The book was published in 1968. It went straight to the bestseller list. The book was later named one of the 100 Greatest Papers in US Journalism of the 20th Century by the New York University Institute of Journalism.

All the years of his work as a correspondent, the man has always secretly dreamed of writing a novel. And in 1987 the world learned about the new Tom Wolfe - a writer. He released the novel "Bonfires of the Vanities", which tells about the true life of New York. The publication is often called the best work of a journalist and writer named Tom Wolfe. The author's books, written later, often repeated the success of the first novel and even surpassed it, but they no longer produced such an effect. During his rather long life, Tom Wolfe wrote four novels, seven non-fiction books and five collections of essays. And today, despite his advanced age, the writer continues to work on the fourth work of art. And, perhaps, soon his bibliography will expand.

Awards

For their many yearsWoolf's work has repeatedly received various awards. In his luggage - the medal of the National Book Fund, participation in the prestigious Jeffersonian lecture and a lot of awards. Includes Publishers Guild Award, National Institute of Arts and Culture Awards, Don Passos Award and Ambassador.

Tom Wolfe and cinema

The writer's books are so popular that Hollywood couldn't ignore them. In total, three works were filmed: the essay "The Last American Hero" (1973), the publication "Guys Right" (1983). The novel "Bonfires of Ambition" also waited for its incarnation on the screen - the famous director Brian de Palma undertook the creation of the film. Starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis. The scripts for all the tapes were written by Wolfe himself. Now two more paintings based on the works of Tom are in production.

Private life

The journalist, whose activities are constantly in sight, is trying to hide the details of his personal life. However, it is known that in 1978 he married the art director of the famous Harper's Magazine, Sheila Berger. The couple had two children. Today, the Wolf couple continues to live in New York. The wife always understood that her husband needed care and support. She has always been his reliable rear.

Interesting biography facts

Wolfe Tom, a writer from an early age attracted attention with his somewhat eccentric actions. So, even at the dawn of his journalisticcareer, he always appeared in public in a snow-white suit. Over time, this became his real trademark. He has been reproached more than once for "stealing" the reception from Mark Twain, but he only chuckles in response. By the way, Tom Wolfe is called the most famous writer in the United States. In addition, he is one of the ten highest paid prose writers in America.