Question about a different novelist named Wolfe

Thomas Bitterman · 24 Jan 2003, 16:22 · from urth-v0301.mbox · original

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From: thomasbitterman at netscape.net (Thomas Bitterman)
Subject: RE: (urth) Question about a different novelist named Wolfe
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:22:55 -0500
Message-ID: <urth-v0301-2802 at digest.urth.net>
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Christopher Culver <christopher_culver at yahoo.com> wrote:

>On the bookshelves (at least when some of his books are misshelved in=20
>the Fiction section), Gene Wolfe sits by the early 20th-century writer=20
>Thomas Wolfe. Has anyone read any of Thomas Wolfe's work? Would you=20
>recommend it? I've always been intrigued for some reason by Thomas=20
>Wolfe's intimidatingly large books, and wonder what sort of experience=20
>reading him is.

I've read (very little) Tom Wolfe: _The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test_,
_Bonfire of the Vanities_, _From Bauhuas to Our House_, and _The
Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby_.  Based on that
he's an easy read, good style, interesting topics.  He started in
journalism and his subjects tend to be contemporary people in
interesting or extraordinary situations.

In some ways he's almost the opposite of Gene Wolfe.  Gene writes
very dense, difficult, rather pessimistic stories about times
and places far away where everything is strange and decayed.
Thomas writes brighter stories in contemporary settings where
people cope pretty well.  He'll probably be remembered as one
of the best American novelists of the 20th century.

>Christopher Culver <christopher_culver at yahoo.com>
   - tom

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