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Tom Wolfe

トム・ウルフ

Tomu Urufu

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1930-03-02 （Richmond, Virginia）
Died
2018-05-14 （New York City (Manhattan)） age 88
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Atheist (raised Presbyterian)
Residence History
Richmond, Virginia → New York City (Manhattan)

Career

Occupations
Journalist, Author
Active Years
1959-2016
Influenced By
Marshall Fishwick, Émile Zola, William Makepeace Thackeray / Dickensian tradition
Influenced
Writers of the New Journalism movement, Contemporary literary journalists and nonfiction writers

Education

Washington and Lee University
English
Degree: BA (cum laude)
Period: 1947–1951
Year of Graduation: 1951
Country: United States
Member of Phi Kappa Sigma; sports editor; helped found the literary magazine Shenandoah
Yale University
American Studies
Degree: PhD
Period: 1953–1957
Year of Graduation: 1957
Country: United States
PhD thesis: 'The League of American Writers: Communist Organizational Activity Among American Writers, 1929–1942.'

Awards

Washington Newspaper Guild Award (Foreign News Reporting)
1961
Organization: The Newspaper Guild
Result: 受賞
Washington Newspaper Guild Award (Humor)
1961
Organization: The Newspaper Guild
Result: 受賞
Society of Magazine Writers Award for Excellence
1970
Organization: Society of Magazine Writers
Result: 受賞
National Book Award for Nonfiction (hardcover)
1980
Work: The Right Stuff
Category: 一般ノンフィクション（ハードカバー）
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award
1980
Organization: American Institute of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞
National Book Critics Circle Finalist (General Nonfiction)
1979
Work: The Right Stuff
Category: ノンフィクション
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 最終候補
National Book Critics Circle Finalist (Fiction)
1987
Work: The Bonfire of the Vanities
Category: フィクション
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 最終候補
National Humanities Medal
2001
Organization: National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受賞
Bad Sex in Fiction Award
2004
Work: I Am Charlotte Simmons
Organization: Literary Review (UK)
Result: 受賞
National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
2010
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for Lifetime Achievement
2003
Organization: Chicago Tribune
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

1963 Non-fiction (essays and articles)

Early collection of essays and articles on custom-car culture and aspects of American popular culture.

Popular cultureStatus and consumption

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

1968 Non-fiction (New Journalism)

A reportage account of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters; landmark example of New Journalism using experimental punctuation and onomatopoeia.

CounterculturePsychedelic movement

The Right Stuff

1979 Non-fiction (social history)

Account of the Mercury Seven astronauts and the culture surrounding early American spaceflight. Adapted as an Academy Award–winning film in 1983.

HeroismTechnology and prestige
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Right Stuff / Philip Kaufman (1983)

The Bonfire of the Vanities

1987 Novel (Fiction)

A satirical novel about 1980s New York financial elites and social status competition. Adapted into a 1990 film that was a critical and commercial failure.

ClassAmbition and moral decayLaw and media
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Bonfire of the Vanities / Brian De Palma (1990)

A Man in Full

1998 Novel (Fiction)

A novel about contemporary American society focused on the modern South and urban life; a commercial bestseller and later adapted for television.

HonorEconomic disparityRegional culture
Adaptations
  • [Television (series)] A Man in Full (2021)

I Am Charlotte Simmons

2004 Novel (Fiction)

A novel chronicling a scholarship student's experience at an elite university, examining campus culture, sexuality, and class; met with mixed reviews.

Campus cultureSex and ethicsReferences to neuroscience

Back to Blood

2012 Novel (Fiction)

A novel set in Miami exploring class, race, family, corruption and ambition; released to mixed reviews and modest commercial reception.

RaceClassUrban culture

The Kingdom of Speech

2016 Non-fiction (critique)

A critique of Darwinian explanations and Chomskian linguistics arguing that speech is an invention central to human identity; provoked critical debate.

Origins of languageCritique of scientific orthodoxy

Bibliography

  • The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1963)
  • The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968)
  • The Pump House Gang (1968)
  • Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers (1970)
  • The New Journalism (ed. with E. W. Johnson, 1973)
  • The Painted Word (1975)
  • Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine (1976)
  • The Right Stuff (1979)
  • From Bauhaus to Our House (1981)
  • The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)
  • A Man in Full (1998)
  • I Am Charlotte Simmons (2004)
  • Back to Blood (2012)
  • The Kingdom of Speech (2016)

Adaptations

  • The Right Stuff (film, 1983)
  • The Bonfire of the Vanities (film, 1990)
  • A Man in Full (television adaptation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
New Journalism (literary techniques applied to reportage)Satirical, detail-heavy descriptive proseUse of humor and irony
Recurring Motifs
Concern for status and status symbolsElites and classUrban life and consumer cultureNeuroscience and brain metaphors (late work)White suit as personal trademark

Legacy

Tom Wolfe was a leading figure of New Journalism, known for satirical, status-conscious social observation. He popularized terms and techniques and influenced both nonfiction reportage and contemporary fiction.

Academic Societies

  • American Institute of Arts and Letters (award-related)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities (award-related)

Archives

  • Tom Wolfe papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library

In Popular Culture

  • Guest appearances and parodies on The Simpsons
  • Documentary film 'Radical Wolfe' (2023) and other film/TV appearances

Quotes

  • I think every living moment of a human being's life, unless the person is starving or in immediate danger of death in some other way, is controlled by a concern for status.
    Source: Interview/essay (commonly cited from his writings on status) (1972)

Trivia

  • Adopted the white suit as a trademark from 1962 onward.
  • The Right Stuff was adapted as a film in 1983 and won Academy Awards.
  • The Bonfire of the Vanities was adapted as a film in 1990 but failed critically and commercially.
  • Helped define New Journalism with works such as The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.