In 1989, Tom Wolfe published a famous front-page essay in Harper’s Magazine: “Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast,” arguing that modern literature should draw more from journalistic observation of real contemporary society.
Is there any way I can access this article on-line, for free? The Harper’s website (http://www.harpers.org/) provides articles only to paid subscribers, and Wolfe’s own website (http://www.tomwolfe.com/index2.html) does not appear to have the actual text of any of his writings linked.
Since the text is copyrighted, I doubt you’ll find it (legally) anywhere on the internet for free if not on Wolfe’s of the magazine’s website.
If you need the text in electronic form, not in print, I’d suggest going to a library that has a subscription to Harper’s Magazine. They might have access to Harper’s e-journal version, if there is one, or to the database you linked to.
Do you have a library card? Does your library system make any magazine databases available online? You might be able to get a copy of the essay through your library’s website.
If you’re open to non-electronic free versions, call your library and see if they can fax or mail you a copy of the article, or if you can go in and photocopy it on site.
My university gives me access to the EBSCO database system, which includes Harper’s. Even that service, however, only has full-text articles going back to 1992.
So you might have to get yourself to library and make some photocopies. Here’s the full reference to the Wolfe article, in case it helps:
November 1989, Vol. 279 Issue 1674, p45, 12p, 5 illustrations.
By the way, i’m also a Harper’s subscriber, and Wolfe’s article is not, as far as i can tell, available on the magazine’s own website either. The essay is, however, available in An American Album, a collections of sopme of the best Harper’s stories from the last 150 years.