ARTS The Michigan Daily Tuesday, November 28, 1989 Page 5 Vanity unfair Tom Wolfe claims to be what literature needs BY MARK SWARTZ TOM Wolfe has written an essay for this month's Harper's Magazine titled "Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast." It calls on the writers of this age to jettison their minimalist ways, their magic realist ways, and/or their neo-fabulist ways and embrace what Wolfe calls realism. "A realism," as he defines it, "that -t7 ,... _ .. . . .._ I .._ .r. - . . .. ....... would portray the individual in inti- mate and inextricable relation to the society around him." And what work do you think he cites as the contemporary touchstone for his bold proposition? If I told you he happened to mention his own urban chronicle, The Bonfire on the Vanities - six times - would it surprise you? Two years after its publication, the novel still pleases its writer to no end. Contrast this stance with that of Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show) who in a recent interview was asked which of his books he liked the most, and answered, "I don't think about 'em much once I write 'em." Wolfe makes sure we know he has been thinking a lot about what he has written. Bonfire, on account of its journalistic perspicacity, its documentation of what is actually going on, does what Wolfe expects all other novels should be doing. He calls upon the forefathers of social realism, Balzac, Zola, Dickens, and Thackeray - whose Vanity Fair gave Wolfe the initial conception for his novel - to join him in his bat- tle against the Puppet-Masters, an implicitly despicable club that in- cludes Kafka, Calvino, and Garcia Marquez. Literature is in danger of losing its relevancy because so much of it takes place "at no specific loca- tion. You couldn't even tell what hemisphere it was." On the other hand, you know where Wolfe's book takes place. It takes place in "The Rome, The Paris, The London of the 20th century, the city of ambition, the dense magnetic rock, the irre- sistible destination of all those who insist on being where things are happening - " Some just call it the Big Apple, Mr. Wolfe. SAY ITIN THE... DAILY CLASSIFIEDS c. . b ft . r W4 F;12 2[ Grateful Dead Built to Last Arista Jerry Garcia once said that "(Grateful Dead) fans are like people who like licorice. Not everyone likes licorice but people who like licorice really like licorice." Appropriately enough, on Halloween the Dead rose again to deliver a new batch of licorice to their fans. The new re- lease, Built to Last, adds another nine songs to their already overflow- ing collection. The Grateful Dead built their popularity upon their continual live performances, and this experience can't adequately be captured in the studio. This new album is no excep- tion. Subjectivity aside, Built to Last is a rather satisfying collection of songs. The first single, "Foolish Heart," seems to be a personal at- tempt for the band to see if they can reach the top of the Billboard charts. The style of the song is similar to their 1986 single "Touch of Grey," but lines like "A selfish heart is trouble/ but a foolish heart is worse" come across as more melodic. After first opening the album, one can't help but get the feeling that Built to Last is the Dead's most commercial and mainstream effort to date. Not to criticize the band's in- tentions, but the feeling is over- whelming when an order form con- taining merchandise bearing the Built to Last emblem (a.k.a. "Steal Your Wrench") lands upon your lap after removing the wrapping from the cassette. A few songs seem to go along with this feel, such as "Foolish Heart" and "Built to Last." But these two songs are also great to dance to (if you "shit dance" as Grace Slick entitles it). The album also contains some wonderful gems. Brent Mydlands' lullaby for his daughter, "I Will Take You Home," gives the feel of swaying like a child to the comfort- ing sounds of a music box. Maybe a picture of Picasso's harlequin will come to mind (as it did in mine), which leads me directly to another tune that stuck in my head for days after first hearing it, "Picasso Moon." This song is too catchy for one not to enjoy listening to it; you might get annoyed that it keeps popping in your head at inopportune moments but you just listen to it one more time and that thought stops. Built to Last is oftentimes bal- anced with two songs opposing each other - the thoughtful "Standing on the Moon" balances the more biting "Victim Or the Crime." After being run through the studio, many of, the songs have been rendered in such a way to contain a certain Billboard quality. "Blow Away" and "We Can Run" are fine examples of this. But the mainstream aspect of Built to Last is lost when trying to classify it in comparison to other albums. The album as a whole does not, al- low itself to be set in a certain time- frame; this is not just the 1989 ver- sion of the Grateful Dead. Like most Grateful Dead tunes, they all reside in their own "dead" time zone in re- lation to what the rest of the music scene is producing. The only thing that can be simply stated about Built to Last is that, while leaning to be more mainstream, it's the new Dead album. -Paul Friedman He gives us some juicy inside in- formation about the writing of his novel. It seems he could barely keep ahead of that city where things are happening. Readers of the serialized version that appeared in Rolling Stone (serialization being the pre- ferred method of publication for Dickens and Thackeray) will remem- ber from an early chapter a certain nervous character riding the subway. Wolfe never followed through with what he had originally planned to be- fall Larry Kramer, because the Bern- hard Goetz episode came along. Ap- parently Goetz, the cad, stole Wolfe's idea out from under him. The author accordingly had to scrap his plans for Kramer. "People would say," he writes, "this poor fellow Wolfe, he has no imagination." Strike one up for reality. But we also get an instance where the writer scoops the real world. By the time the Reverend Al Sharpton (notorious for his frequent press conferences re- garding the Tawana Brawley case) came along, his character had already been served up in the person of the "grotesque" Black activist, Reverend Bacon. For Tom Wolfe, fiction speeds along in a constant race against the evening news. The ulti- mate test of a novel's merit is whether the crazy events of the day can invent scenarios before the au- thor's mind can. Aside from the dubious ethical undertaking of trying to review one's own book (actually he subtitles the work "A Literary Manifesto"), I have no problem with Wolfe's assessment of what he has done in writing Bon- fire. For a first work of fiction, the author of The Right Stuff and the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test has created a fascinating, relevant, and occasionally hilarious world. But by universalizing his method and thereby invalidating all other ways of writing about a very big world, he shrinks the possibilites of literature. He might as well recommend that writers take his example and begin wearing white suits with white socks and white shoes. But just be- cause that curious fashion decision "works" for Tom Wolfe doesn't mean you or I wouldn't look ridicu- lous if we tried it. Wasty wind, when will thou blow? Rocky, funky, metally and apparently sexy, the appallingly monikered Run Westy Run bring their own Minneapolis sound to the Blind Pig tonight. "Post-punk-Southern-folk-blues-rock for people who went through all these styles but now don't need to put one label on music," comes in the shape of support group, Shadowland, who have a spiffing (Loaded-era Velvets) version of Robert Zimmerman's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Tickets are $4 at the door. Showtime is 10 p.m. Participate in .. . Talking about the Right Things Campus-wide dialogues organized by the Institute for Social Research Here at The University of Michigan, students of diverse racial and ethnic back- grounds attend the same classes, live in the same dorms, read in the same study halls and libraries, and cheer for the same teams. Yet they may only rarely talk with each other to share ideas, opinions, and perspectives. And the same is true of faculty and staff. Let's begin the dialogue... A group of us at the Institute for Social Research plan to observe Martin Luther King Day, January 15, 1990, by seeing and discussing Spike Lee's provocative new film.. . Do the Right Thing Come see a free showing of this film, and ... * talk about our divided society How can you begin the dialogue? Observe Martin Luther King Day by seeing and discussing this film with a person of a different racial or ethnic background. * Attend one of three orientation sessions (lace to be specified): Friday, January 12, at 1:00 p.m. Friday, January 12, at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, January 13, at 10:00 a.m. * See the film with your discussion partner at one of the special free showings at the Michigan Theater: Monday, January 15, 1:30 p.m. Monday, January 15, 4:30 p.m. * Talk about the film with your discus- sion partner * Share with others the ideas you and your discussion partner develop together -- and, if you wish, contribute those ideas to a special publication (anonvmouslv. unless you wish I I I I I I I I I I I I i i i i i . i Talking about the Right Things Make your reservations now... Your name: Address: Telephone: Circle one: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate student, faculty, staff Your racial or ethnic background (to help match discussion partners): Your age: Sex: M F Do you need a discussion partner? Yes No If you already have a partner: Partner's name: Partner's address and phone: Partner is (circle one): freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate student, faculty, staff Partner's racial or ethnic background: Partner's age: Partner's sex: M F A Please indicate which orientation session you think you will attend (check one): __Friday, January 12, 1:00 p.m.