# Is Tom Wolfe arguably the greatest current American writer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480 "2004-11-02T02:36:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/1 "2004-11-02T02:36:52Z")
Is he arguably the best writer in America per an article in [“The Guardian”](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1340525,00.html)? > [@](#): > > From this desk, and the pen of arguably America’s greatest current writer - author of the 1987 epic Bonfire of the Vanities and much more besides - there now comes a third major novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, to be published next week, on the other side of election day. ---
**Author:** ![TWOTfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@TWOTfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWOTfan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/2 "2004-11-02T02:43:45Z")
He couldn’t be – he’s voting for Bush! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/3 "2004-11-02T03:41:46Z")
Since “arguably” means “it could be argued” then, yes, Tom Wolfe is arguably the greatest current American writer. So are about 10 other current American writers about whom we can argue. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/4 "2004-11-02T03:41:58Z")
Toni Morrison is the best living American writer. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/5 "2004-11-02T03:45:36Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Toni Morrison is the best living American writer. Kel Varnsen writes like shit, but you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/6 "2004-11-02T03:48:16Z")
That’s a strange way to describe this new book. What were his first two major novels? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/7 "2004-11-02T04:06:39Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > That’s a strange way to describe this new book. What were his first two major novels? He’s only written two other novels (_Bonfire of the Vanities_ and _A Man In Full_. The rest of his books are non-fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/8 "2004-11-02T04:09:20Z")
It can be argued, but it’s impossible to imagine anyone seriously doing so. Especially if the subject is fiction. No question that if nonfiction is included, Wolfe is a major writer over the course of his career, but the “current” tag is bizarre. He has written nothing of substance over of the past 20 years. Hooking Up was minor at best. Even The Right Stuff is more than 20 years old. He’s been conducting a major campaign ever since he turned in his latest novel to try to preempt the expected viciously negative reviews. He’s in a running fued with Updike and Mailer and Roth, whose pencils he is not fit to sharpen, as a novelist. For some reason, he’s charmed English papers which especially have been trying to make him out as a great novelist. It’s pathetic if the novel turns out to be awful, and more pathetic if the novel turns out to be good. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/9 "2004-11-02T04:26:57Z")
Nothing of substance over the past 20 years? _Bonfire_ was nothing of substance? It was not only one of the most critically successful novels of the 80’s it was the best selling debut novel of the decade. What counts as “substance?” _A Man In Full_ was also a critical and popular success. Yes, Tom Wolfe is one of the most respected and best writers now working. And Norman Mailer is an overrated blowhard, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/10 "2004-11-02T04:56:13Z")
That paragraph was specifically about nonfiction, which is why I mentioned only nonfiction in it. Mailer _is_ an overrated blowhard, but he is still a better fiction writer than Wolfe, and the interesting argument would be how close the two compare as nonfiction writers. He even wrote an Apollo book a decade before Wolfe did. I’ve read all of Wolfe’s nonfiction, BTW, and he’s always been a great favorite of mine, but Mailer’s nonfiction about politics were also major books, and he’s a better essayist. Sorry, but Wolfe has only written two novels. Bonfire was a fairly major book, although not great in any sense. I found the next book unreadable, so I’m not going to praise it, and it was trashed by many other writers, hence the lingering hatred. You can make an argument about Harper Lee or James Baldwin or a few others that one transcendent book makes for an entire career, but Bonfire is not up to that standard. Unless Charlotte rises to previous heights, there is no basis for calling Wolfe “one of the most respected and best writers now working” instead of a once-interesting writer past his prime. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/11 "2004-11-02T07:50:17Z")
Thoman Pynchon, Don Delillo, and Cormac McCarthy are still alive, so Wolfe can suck it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/12 "2004-11-02T14:37:14Z")
Tom Wolfe was one of the first and IMHO is the best commentator on American pop culture. **freejookey** ’s list needs is missing one name: John Irving ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/13 "2004-11-02T15:42:21Z")
Wrong Wolfe. _Gene_ Wolfe is the greateest current American writer. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/14 "2004-11-02T16:33:41Z")
Just to throw some more names into the mix, let’s not forget about Irving, Vonnegut or Updike. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/15 "2004-11-02T16:50:09Z")
Wasn’t Bonfire first published as a serial novel in the pages of Rolling Stone? I seem to remember slogging through it for a number of months, and finally quitting in disgust. Did he revise it heavily before final publication? If not, how in the world did it become a “major American novel?” Admittedly, I didn’t finish it, but… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/16 "2004-11-02T16:50:31Z")
Irving Wolfe, Updike Wolfe, and Vonnegut Wolfe? Man, that’s some patrician old-fashioned family. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/17 "2004-11-02T16:52:44Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Just to throw some more names into the mix, let’s not forget about Irving, Vonnegut or Updike. I enjoy Irving, but I’m not sure I’d put him up there. I’ll throw two other names out: Russell Banks and Michael Cunningham. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/18 "2004-11-02T16:53:10Z")
> [@mailman](#): > > Wasn’t Bonfire first published as a serial novel in the pages of Rolling Stone? … Did he revise it heavily before final publication? Yes, it was, and yes, he did. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/19 "2004-11-02T17:31:33Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Toni Morrison is the best living American writer. I don’t like her. I had to read both Beloved and The Bluest Eyes in high school. Something about her comes off as kind of schmaltzy, even though her writing is very dark. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480/20 "2004-11-02T17:52:17Z")
I appreciate Tom Wolfe as a journalist, pop historian, and cultural critic. I don’t think too much of him as a novelist. For the latter, I’m much more partial to Vonnegut. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tom-wolfe-arguably-the-greatest-current-american-writer/272480.md?page=2)