Tom Wolfe elevated journalism into enduring literature
In this crossposting from The Conversation, Boston University’s William McKeen examines the late Tom Wolfe’s contribution to the once-derided profession of journalism.
In 20th-century popular culture, journalists were portrayed as needy hacks desperate to write the Great American Novel. Journalism was the means to an end that few achieved.
But Tom Wolfe, who died May 14 at age 88, helped change that in the 1960s. He was one of the New Journalists, who wrote nonfiction using the techniques of fiction.
As an example: Journalists had long been trained to use direct quotations sparingly and to look for money quotes, working them into stories with stenographic rhythm. Wolfe and the others broke rules, using great stretches of dialogue, knowing people reveal their character with the words they utter.
Nice to see one of the greats acknowledged here. He could sure turn a phrase.