That’s because in Charlotte Simmons he doesn’t merely depict undergraduate life-he damns it. Famous for the New Journalism style he virtually pioneered in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and perfected in The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe is the best-known novelist of the intricacies of the American cultural scene.Īnd yet, with his self-professed role as witness and writer of American culture, combined with his (usually) capable ear for linguistic nuance, danger lies in the delicacy of Wolfe’s role as decoder of American life. Wolfe’s portrait of the libidinal college youth of today wouldn’t be so important if it was not Wolfe writing-with all the gravitas and supposed cultural clarity he brings to the page. Its failure as a work of journalistic fiction does not stem solely from its carefully sketched out but nonetheless hopelessly clichéd characters, but also from its moral judgment of these characters as if they are objective examples of contemporary youth.

I Am Charlotte Simmons, a 676-page cinder block of a work, attempts to accurately portray, in typical Wolfian anthropological style, life at an elite university. Wolfe became legendary serving up the counterculture and packaging New York City’s economic elite, but his latest effort is arguably his most difficult yet-decoding the profanity-laced wit and sexually charged wisdom of today’s undergraduate youth. As a cultural arbiter, Tom Wolfe has picked a prickly fight by depicting and assessing his vision of modern college life.

I am charlotte simmons book