Posted by Ritch on May 27, 2003, at 10:40:07
In reply to Re: Kesey suprise, Wolfe too, posted by noa on May 26, 2003, at 18:58:59
> Didn't you get the sense, in "Bonfire of the Vanities" that the "poet" (hired by the anorexic party hostesses to entertain the guests) was Wolfe himself? Both loving all the attention and the ability to hobnob with the financial and power elite, eating up all the ostentation, while coyly hiding behind the narrator's cynical mocking of the whole lifestyle?
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> That was quite a book--a challenge to read because there was not one single character that I could like!
>
> I've also read other things by Wolfe. He has written a lot.
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> I don't even remember some of things I've read by him it has been so long. (That is why I was able to enjoy "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" again even though I'd read it before!).
>
> The ones I do remember are a book satirizing the New York City society liberals ("Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers"), and a critique of modern architecture ("From Bauhaus to Our House"). Hmm, maybe I'll pick up another Wolfe book of essays next time at the library.
>
>I DO remember very distinctly the "social X-rays"! Honestly, I had forgotten about the "poet", but it wouldn't surprise me if what you say is true (Wolfe being the persona of the poet at these parties). He probably has attended quite a few of these parties and probably has felt show-cased as a circus freak for the entertainment of rich people who don't understand anything about the *ideas* in his writing. I remember a long time ago William Buckley interviewing him and thought he was a "liberal" and was comparing him to Emile Zola or something and it was hilarious because it was so way off! Oh-the interesting thing about "Bonfire of the Vanities" were the styrofoam "peanuts" that were sticking to the legs of the guy that got busted... INSULATION... I thought that was the main idea of the book--this guy came from relatively common roots--made a ton of money---lost it all---turned into a common criminal--- and he was being extracted from a box filled full of insulation.
poster:Ritch
thread:228711
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20030426/msgs/229422.html