The Bonfire of the Vanities
After Tom Wolfe defined the '60s inThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid TestandRadical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchersand the cultural U-turn at the turn of the '80s inThe Right Stuff, nobody thought he could ever top himself again. In 1987, whenThe Bonfire of the Vanitiesarrived, the literati called Wolfe an "aging enfant terrible."He wasn't aging; he was growing up.Bonfire's pyrotechnic satire of 1980s New York wasn't just Wolfe's best book, it was the best bestselling fiction debut of the decade, a miraculously realistic study of an unbelievably status-mad society, from the fiery combatants of the South Bronx to the bubbling scum at the top of Wall Street. Sherman McCoy, a farcically arrogant investment banker (dubbed a "Master of the Universe," Wolfe's brilliant metaphorical co-opting of a then-important toy for boys), hits a black guy in the Bronx with his Mercedes and runs--right into a nightmare peopled by vicious mistresses, thin wives like "social x-rays," slime-bag politicos, tabloid hacks, and Dantesque denizens of the "justice" system. If the Coen and Marx brothers together dramatizedThe Great Gatsby, Wolfe'sBonfirewould probably be funnier. Many think his second novel,A Man in Full, is deeper, butBonfirewill never die down.You might find it interesting to compare the filmThe Bonfire of the Vanities, a fascinating calamity perpetrated by the geniuses Brian De Palma and Tom Hanks, withThe Right Stuff, one of the very best films of the '80s.--Tim Appelo--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.