Essays
In the introduction to the book, Wolfe says that when writing the titular essay for Esquire in 1963, a look at the world of custom cars, he suffered from a severe case of writer's block. As his deadline approached, Wolfe compiled his notes, without much concern for the standard conventions of writing, and submitted them to his editor Byron Dobell. Dobell is said to have simply removed the salutation "Dear Byron" and run Wolfe's notes as the article.
Wolfe's account of the custom car culture centers on Ed Roth, one of the fathers of the Kustom Kulture movement and George Barris, who had a completely different philosophy of customizing cars (Barris' pure art approach, as compared to Roth's cars that were still designed for drivers), but called himself the "King of the Kustomizers."
The 22 essays in the book share no particular unifying theme other than Wolfe's experimental techniques in non-fiction writing. Subjects that crop up in this work, and continue throughout Wolfe's career, include his interests in status, culture, form and style.
Other major essays in the collection include, "Las Vegas (What?) Las Vegas (Can't hear you! Too noisy) Las Vegas!!!!", an early look at how outrageous Las Vegas was becoming, before the city was as well known as it is today; or "The Fifth Beatle" and "The First Tycoon of Teen" which profiled pop-music figures Murray the K and Phil Spector.
The essay that many critics have considered the strongest is "The Last American Hero," a profile of Junior Johnson, an early star of the stock car racing world and NASCAR. In looking at a single day at the races, Wolfe also examines the rise of the race day culture, how it is a stark contrast to the Grand Prix motor racing popular in Europe. The Last American Hero was made into a film in 1973, starring Jeff Bridges as Junior Johnson.
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Famous quotes containing the word essays:
“I have been reporting club meetings for four years and I am tired of hearing reviews of the books I was brought up on. I am tired of amateur performances at occasions announced to be for purposes either of enjoyment or improvement. I am tired of suffering under the pretense of acquiring culture. I am tired of hearing the word “culture” used so wantonly. I am tired of essays that let no guilty author escape quotation.”
—Josephine Woodward, U.S. author. As quoted in Everyone Was Brave, ch. 3, by William L. O’Neill (1969)
“If these Essays were worthy of being judged, it might fall out, in my opinion, that they would not find much favour, either with common and vulgar minds, or with uncommon and eminent ones: the former would not find enough in them, the latter would find too much; they might manage to live somewhere in the middle region.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“I undertake the same project as Montaigne, but with an aim contrary to his own: for he wrote his Essays only for others, and I write my reveries only for myself.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)