University of Virginia Library

Electric Author Tom Wolfe
Charms Full House in Cabell

Commentary

By TERRY JASPERSON

Tom Wolfe, the author of such
contemporary works as the Electric
Kool-Aid Acid Test and the Pump House
Gang, spoke to an overflowing crowd in
Cabell Hall Auditorium Wednesday night.

"And which door do the lions use?"
asked Mr. Wolfe. From that moment on,
he had the rapt attention of everyone.
They had been waiting for Mr. Wolfe to
begin for half an hour. At 7:30, the
scheduled start of the speech, a line of
people stretched across the front of
Cabell Hall waiting to get in.

They filled every seat and then began
to cram themselves into the aisles. Some
sat on the balconies and others sat on the
floor peering through the lattice work of
the balcony railings, trying to see the
stage.

Mr. Wolfe began with an
autobiographical sketch, tracing his
literary progress from his graduation from
Washington and Lee in 1951.

He wanted to be a writer, and like so
many others during the fifties he said, he
felt that writing a novel meant "instant
salvation, instant everything. The novel
was like the holy grail."

He said that after every war people
think that there is going to be a new
literary surge.

During the question and answer
period following his hour-long lecture.
Mr. Wolfe was asked about his
preoccupation with status. He said that
he attacked all his stories from this point
of view because he felt that it was the
driving force in any society. He enjoys
delving into status because it is a taboo
subject.

When asked what he thought of
today's intellectuals. Mr. Wolfe said
"today's intellectuals are a status type of
consumer, like the nine to five commuter
or a St. Elmo's fraternity member or a
pimp or anything else. They can be
identified by a certain set of drives and
values."

During a seminar held yesterday Mr.
Wolfe said that his next book, which will
be on the stand next fall, will be about
the acquisition of status among the
upperclass.