The novel The Bonfire of the Vanities is a satirical novel written by Tom Wolfe. The story originally ran in installments in the Rolling stone beginning in 1984 and there were a total of 27 installments. Wolf later published a heavily revised version in book form in 1987. It was well received being both a bestseller and often referred to as “the quintessential novel of the 1980s”.
Wolfe had always planned to write a novel that captured the broad spectrum of American society. His inspiration was William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, which described the society of 19th century England.
In his novel, Wolfe wanted to capture the essence of New York City in the 1980s, and shine a light on the darker side of what was happening in the City. In his novel, he wanted to include the crime, homelessness, and racial and cultural tensions that plagued New York at the time. He began researching his novel by shadowing members of the Bronx homicide squad and observing cases at the Manhattan criminal court. The characters in his novel were based on the individuals and cultural observations he had made when researching.
The title of the novel, is a reference to the actual bonfire of the vanities that occurred in Florence Italy in 1497. Under the rule of Dominican priest, Girolamo Savonarola, items that church authorities deemed sinful were burned. These items included cosmetics, mirrors, books, and art.
The story itself covers racism, social class, politics, greed, and ambition in 1980s New York City. It follows the lives of three main characters Sherman McCoy, a WASP bond trader, Larry Kramer, a Jewish assistant district attorney, and Peter Fallow, a British expatriate journalist. The story begins when McCoy and his mistress are involved in the hit and run of a Henry Lamb, a young black teen, and from this event, the lives of the three main characters become entwined.
Each character has their own vanity and ambitions, Kramer wants to impress his former jury member and Fallow is desperate for a story that will redeem his career for example. Each of these ambitions takes form in the case of Henry Lamb. Wolfe also vividly compares the worlds of McCoy and Henry lamb contrasting the rich white Park Avenue and the poor, black Bronx.
Sourceshttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jan/10/bonfire-of-vanities-tom-wolfe
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/20/tom-wolfe-new-york-south-bronx-bonfire-of-the-vanities
I thought it was very interesting that this book credited as the "quintessential novel of the 1980s" began in the year 1984, as it reminded me of George Orwell's novel 1984. Orwell predicted in his book that by the year 1984, people would become obedient citizens of a totalitarian society where televisions served as the monitors of all human life. Its interesting to see the parallels and differences between Orwell's novel and the one you mentioned in this blog. While Wolfe's story was centered around crime and homelessness, I believe that to a certain degree, some of Orwell's predictions, especially about social class and politics have shown itself in some way in Wolfe's reality.
ReplyDeleteOn a slightly different note: Orwell's 1984 actually had a pretty pervasive impact on people living during Wolfe's time, as Steve Jobs even chose to show in his Superbowl add how his Apple computer was going to make this "1984" different from that "1984."
Video link to add: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfqw8nhUwA