His subjects
The cross-section of society that Wolfe interviewed and portrayed is baffling. It stretches from the
acid-downing proto-hippies of the Merry Pranksters all the way to the suicidally brave astronauts of Project Mercury.
The essay - or rather, the series of notes - that propelled Wolfe to minor stardom is
'"There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy-Kolored (Thphhhhhh!) Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Rahghhh!) Around the Bend (Brummmmmmmmmmmmmmm)…" Written for Esquire in a single overnight sitting in 1963, it delves into the lives of the mechanic-cum-artists of the Kustom Kulture movement, primarily Ed Roth and George Barris.
He also wrote
"The Right Stuff", a portrait of the seven pilots who were the first Americans to strap themselves atop rockets during the space race. It's an account of the grit and know-how that drove the Mercury team. With equal dedication (though a great deal more frivolity) Wolfe also documented the Grateful Dead's romps in a psychedelic bus handing out LSD to anyone who looked like they might be interested.
"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" is not simply canon in America, it is considered the starter-pistol for a generational change that crossed the globe.
His language
Wolfe's mastery of the english language was expressed through the destruction of - rather than the adherence to - the literary norms of the day. While he was an inheritor of America's Beat tradition and an acolyte of Emile Zola, Wolfe developed a style that included a healthy peppering of
exclamation marks and ellipses. It was expansive, meandering and highly detailed; all the qualities that came to define the New Journalism movement which narrowed the chasm between journalism and literature.
Take, for example,
his use of "aw shucks" as an adverb (describing the performative handwringing at upper crust New York social events). Or his essay that was aimed at the
"radical chic" of liberal socialites (again in New York) who adorned themselves with Black Panther militants at dinner parties. Such status-conscious behaviour remained a key fascination of Wolfe's. Another essay within the same series
"Mau-Mauing & The Flak Catchers" bore two great phrases into the world ("Mau-Mauing" is to intimidate and "flak catcher" is a colourful term to describe the job of, say, the current White House press secretary).
He coined the term
"the Me generation" to describe the indulgences of Boomers in the 1970s and was critical of the popular lionisation of wealth with
"plutography" (a portmanteau of pornography and plutocracy).
His practice
As a journalist and magazine writer Wolfe spent much of his time on the road, and ingratiated himself to a degree that his hosts would often invite him along to family dinner events. While not particularly novel now, this notion of embedding oneself within a story for extended lengths of time - coupled with the recording of natural conversation rather than interviews - was a breakthrough.
Yet it was in his later years as a novelist that the benefits of these habits paid off. Wolfe's early practice allowed him to enmesh himself with Wall Street stock brokers for the research of his first book,
"The Bonfire of the Vanities". Through exhaustive research and countless hours spent listening to people talk about their lives, fears and wishes, Wolfe painted a picture of these powerful men with extraordinary detail. These self-proclaimed,
'masters of the universe' were constructed around the core human behaviour that had amused and occupied Wolfe for his entire career; the measurement, attainment and promulgation of status.
Whether he intended it (let alone wanted it) or not, Wolfe too has attained a rare status for himself as one of the great writers of his era.
