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Tom
Wolfe falls into a special category of writer: you either love him
or loathe him. He's either a champion of the written word or a highfalutin
windbag, a member of the intelligentsia elite. HOOKING UP will do
nothing to change the mind of those on either side of this literary
Mason-Dixon.
When I first saw the title, read the blurb, I had different expectations.
After all, the term has become synonymous with today's mating rituals
among young people. Rather than a treatise on the sexual mores of
the new millennium (which comprises but one chapter) or even a report
on the "wiring of the world," HOOKING UP is a collection
of essays, both new and recycled, on myriad topics.
The author's premise is how modern technology, and some of the far-sighted
men who developed various aspects of it, has changed our lives.
One of the more interesting essays deals with life as "excused"
by what science has determined to be a person's "hardwiring,"
preset at birth. The whole nature/nurture issue: While you might
be able to learn a lot at school, you're basically predisposed to
your maximum level of intelligence at birth. Can't pay attention
in class? Not your fault --- Attention Deficit Disorder. Ax murderer?
Not your fault --- those tendencies were going to come out sooner
or later.
Wolfe shows promise when he writes about the contributions of such
far-sighted pioneers as Teilhard de Chardin, Edmund Wilson, and
Marshall McLuhan, whose works were instrumental in shrinking our
planet to a "global village," indeed, "hooked up"
by today's technology. Where will we be in 20 years, or 50? Our
children are growing up acclimated by computers, Walkmans, MP3,
cell phones --- in fact, they feel it's part of their birthright,
can't conceive of a world without these amenities. Grandpa, you
say there was a time when there didn't used to be television? And
when it first came out it was all in black and white? Get out of
town!
Wolfe breaks from the nonfiction to include a novella, "Ambush
at Fort Bragg," a somewhat overwrought (and incomplete) story
of homophobia and murder in the armed forces as uncovered by TV
journalism.
The pen is mightier than the sword, as Wolfe uses "My Three
Stooges" as a riposte against three respected authors who took
a public disliking to his latest novel, A MAN IN FULL. Rather than
let their criticism go as "they're entitled to their opinions,"
Wolfe feels the need to sharpen his claws on John Updike, John Irving,
and Norman Mailer. Such "catfighting" may be a good exercise
in venting one's spleen, but not every reader may want to spend
his money on it.
The final portion of the book is a reprint of one of Wolfe's earliest
pieces, a parody profile of William Shawn, editor of the New
Yorker magazine in the 1950s, when Wolfe was but a young buck
reporter with the New York Herald Tribune. Shawn evidently
took great umbrage at the article and sought to have it quashed.
When his protestations fell on deaf ears, he complained to his fellow
journalists, condemning Wolfe and his employers. At the time, it
caused quite a stir; today, with such outlets as "Saturday
Night Live" and National Lampoon, it all just seems
silly.
Wolfe's work in general as been somewhat disappointing since BONFIRE
OF THE VANITIES, or even THE RIGHT STUFF. Whether his comeback begins
with HOOKING UP remains to be seen.
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan (ronk23@aol.com)
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