Tom Wolfe: The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Paperback, 2009, Picador)
Paperback, 368 pages
English language
Published Nov. 24, 2009 by Picador.
"In his first book—a collection that launched its author as America's foremost entertainer with something to say—Tom Wolfe took a sharp-eyed look at the American scene of the early 1960s and zeroed in on the exotic forms of status-seeking that flourished across the country from New York to Los Angeles.
He observed the emergence of intriguing art forms and styles of life that had nothing to do with the "elite" culture of the past. In the Low Rent world of the Twist, bouffant hairdos, stock car racing, and rock concerts he found not only a uniquely American energy but also an American aesthetic. In the title piece Wolfe eulogized the flamboyant kustomized kars that California teenagers designed and constructed with a single-minded artistic dedication. And through his eyes we see this new world's most stupendous manifestation: the back-lit plastic city of Las Vegas—"apart from Versailles the only architecturally uniform city …
"In his first book—a collection that launched its author as America's foremost entertainer with something to say—Tom Wolfe took a sharp-eyed look at the American scene of the early 1960s and zeroed in on the exotic forms of status-seeking that flourished across the country from New York to Los Angeles.
He observed the emergence of intriguing art forms and styles of life that had nothing to do with the "elite" culture of the past. In the Low Rent world of the Twist, bouffant hairdos, stock car racing, and rock concerts he found not only a uniquely American energy but also an American aesthetic. In the title piece Wolfe eulogized the flamboyant kustomized kars that California teenagers designed and constructed with a single-minded artistic dedication. And through his eyes we see this new world's most stupendous manifestation: the back-lit plastic city of Las Vegas—"apart from Versailles the only architecturally uniform city in the Western World."
Wolfe also sized up the defenses that the old guard rallied against this rising tide of barbarism. Whether in fashion, nightlife, child-rearing, or art-worship, its struggle to find new forms to preserve its status against the proles received ruthless and hilarious scrutiny.
Illustrated by the author's own "Metropolitan Sketchbook," The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby was a dazzling debut." - from [tomwolfe.com][1]
This is Wolfe finding his voice and his element and it's a good showcase both of the things I love about Wolfe — his curiosity, power of observation, and wit — and the things I find annoying, such as his need to let you know that he's down with it all and above it all at the same time.
