University of Virginia Library

Non deliberate Wolfe

Wolfe's refusal to be Auden's
"deliberate man" in a sociopolitical
context, his elusive and invisible
elements, his aloof, penetrating wit,
which proves so unsettling to his
detractors — his very magic — all of
these defy logic and rationality and
persuasion.

In a rational world, "ordered"
maybe by Mumford's Pentagon of
Power, or perhaps the concrete
Corporate State Reich warns of,
one suspects Tom Wolfe (a man
quite "able at times to cry") would
be playing sandlot baseball with the
children.