nonfiction, which is so true. in the time of trump. but he didn t just listen, he felt things, his descriptions of loneliness and despair. i am charlotte simmons was the reason i wanted to write novels. it wasn t just a neutral, detached observer, he sort of crossed that transom of feeling thing angst, feeling the agony and despair and putting it on the page. he was a poet. our friend peggy noonan wrote an appreciation of her friend tom wolfe in a piece entitled hats off to tom wolfe. he picked up american journalism and shook it hard and he picked up the novel and shook it, too. he issued one of the great literary manifestos, stop your naval-gazing, get out your notebook, there s a world exploding out there. he strutted through the world like some crazed antique peacock, the faded vanilla suits. high-collared shirts, polka dot ties, the socks, the handkerchief, the spats, good-bye, tom, wolfe, may you be