TOM WOLFE IN BRAZIL SAYS NEXT BOOK WILL EXAMINE SOCIAL STATUS AMONG
EXECUTIVES
Author Tom Wolfe said on Wednesday his next book will look at off-the-wall behaviour — wealthy investor types who hide their status, dress like delinquents and act like bad seeds.
The book will be non-fiction, ending a string of three novels and marking a return to the genre that made Wolfe famous as a founder of new journalism.
In Brazil to promote his most recent novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, Wolfe said his next book would address social status — why executives often feel compelled to dress in jeans, motorcycle jackets and T-shirts that say: ”Mother was wrong.”
”After all, what is a rich man who dresses in a style known as post-homeless trying to say? That’s what I’d like to find out,” Wolfe said.
”That’s why there are so many bad marriages. A girl can no longer tell where a young man stands just by looking at him.”
Wolfe, never known for dressing down, said he brought five of his trademark white suits to Brazil.
”I used to own quite a lot of white suits. At one time I had 34, today I only have 24. But it’s tough going. If I had Dr Freud’s number I’d call him to ask him why I do this,” said Wolfe, who is scheduled to address the opening of Rio’s 12th Biennial Book Fair on Thursday. – Sapa-AP