The Bonfire of the Vanities ( 1987)
Tom Wolfe ( 1931-2018)
The writer :
He started his career as a journalist and became one of the best columnists in The New York Herald Tribune. But soon, in his columns, besides relating facts , he found a way to look at the American society with a critical eye and the expression « NEW JOURNALISM » was coined.
At some point, he decided to devote himself entirely to writing fiction. About his novels, he declared : « I am writing non fiction novels meaning true stories ». He asserted that his novels were grounded on thorough investigations but the opposite was not true : he never invented anything in his columns as a journalist.
When writing The Bonfire of the Vanities, he recognised having been influenced by Emile Zola ( Naturalism- 19th C.) whose works are detailed descriptions of the French society of the time and having been inspired by Tackeray’s Vanity Fair .
The book :
Wolfe’s first novel and a major bestseller worldwide.
It is a social satire of the world of the Yuppies of Wall Street in New York in the 1980s, a scathing description and an unreserved criticism of a world plagued by personal and unscrupulous ambition and corruption, cupidity and opportunism , of a system that privileges the appearance.
« Radical chic » is the expression Wolfe used to stigmatise the Wasp Elite and their vanities.
What is important is to keep up appearances and to show signs of wealth : graduating from an Ivy League University, showing off expensive cars, suits, shoes, going to the best restaurants, having an apartment in the Upper East Side decorated by a famous interior decorator, attending society dinners, and for women, to be « skinny » !
Sherman McCoy, the main character, has all this. His life seems secure, he has the illusion of being important, he regards himself as « Master of the universe ».
But VANITIES are by essence transient and can disappear in no time.
The plot :
Sherman McCoy is embroiled in an extra-marital affair. When driving with his mistress, he knocks down Henri Lamb, a young black man in the Bronx, leaving him seriously injured on the scene.
This is a hit-and-run accident. Sherman thinks he can get away with it by cowardly keeping a low profile and thanks to his connexions with the right people at the highest level of society.
But he is soon caught up by the black community led by the Reverend Bacon.
Tension grows among the black community, gathering strenght day after day: ( incredible description of the Bronx « a lab for human relationships » )
Sherman can non longer escape the judicial trap closing in, leading to his trial, crushing him little by little.
He will be ostracized by his upper-class friends and estranged from his wife and daugther.
Within a few months, Sherman’s life and everything he believed in will be destroyed on The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Our group’s appreciation :
We all loved the book and found it a page turner, very moralistic with a lot of humour too.
We all appreciated the different themes dealt with : life in New York, the tabloid press (« The City light »), male power, corruption, respectability, the value of life ( black v. white).
We got an insight into the somber world of Justice and what it means to be part of a Jury.
Some ladies found Sherman a hapless man, sweetly naïve, victime of a certain model of society, and felt sorry for him in a way.
Some found an interesting connexion between the characters and their names : McCoy, too coward and shy to surrender to the police, Lamb, the innocent victim, Weiss, the honest man, the Bavardage couple…
The Reverend Bacon was inspired by the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
A very good book indeed.
« VANITE DES VANITES ET TOUT EST VANITE » from the Ancient Testament, Ecclesiaste, I, 2
Anne Van Calster ( March 2019)
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