Pensamiento - Literatura

VIII. Conclusion

§64. Wolfe's work is torn between the tension of reporting and manipulating, exposing and admiring. As a reader, I find this tension an actual manifestation of unacknowledged contradictions which arise from pretending. I understand they could also be considered a sign of irony and wit, from a different approach.

§65. There is exposure when Wolfe deals with the workings of politicians and the media around the issue of space, but the focus of TRS is admiration: celebrating the arquetype of the hero as conceived by our society (patriarchal, violent and elitist). The intention of TRS seems to be "correcting" what is perceived as misfocused admiration to courage: we can't forget about our ever heroic boys! -the supreme military value of courage, incarnated in military pilots, the ever-prevailing men's fraternity, which stands for the most righteous stuff we can find in humanity.

§66. The writer's main concern, that of building credibility, monitors TRS. However, credibility is sought not so much so that readers believe the given information and re-create reality, but so that readers follow the author, feel with the author- Follow me. I'm fun. And I will pay attention to you .

§67. All literary resources will be used to lead readers to focus, to where the author wants them to stand: distribution of events, cliffhanger endings, language, characterization, figures of speech, point of view, detail. And we will witness how characterization is ill-resolved in spite of his technical skills.

§68. Part of this credibility is built in showing how much data he has collected, how much material he has gathered, but this results in an indiscriminate use of journalistic information, which actually poses several questions: is the writer showing off how much information he gathered? Is he concerned about not being believed? Does he want to distract the readers' attention? Perhaps facilitate the readers' focus? Overinformation leads to misinformation too, especially if factual welth is mostly irrelevant. Every journalist knows this.

§69. Perhaps the most important effort on building credibility is based on working for his own image-to be present as a learned and well-informed commentator who uses irony to communicate intellectual superiority and sound judgement, while combining it with his voicing of pop[ular] language styles to bridge to "ordinary" people. This last feature allows him to filter out not only his intellectual thesis on the theme but also his emotional relationship to it: We humans admire those who give their lives for us; I admire people with such courage . Because the thesis is widely supported in our societies, seeking credibility in this context is a strange concern. Also, there is a solid popular tradition of admiration to a perverted version of irony, that which is founded on mocking others, and not on critical thinking, and this is what Wolfe exploits throughout the book to seek the alliance of the public. The public understands caricatures far better than arguments.

§70. Tom Wolfe's TRS is journalistic in the sense that he offers information on actual events and actual people. However, in what respects to his input for readers to be able to work out a larger interpretative picture of historical events and the views and psychology of people involved in them, TRS is limited due to its underlying ideological choice, that of the by default mentality, the prevailing principles, concepts, values which are seen as neutral or non-ideological because they prevail. As a New Journalist experiment, it does not seem to be valuable or risky-an experimental attempt to investigate ways to depict bits of reality so readers can interpret events. It is more a disguised exercise of emotional manipulation which safely parts from the traditional values which sustain the social order and its presentation, and which is presented in an appealing format for readers: the writer counts on us, speaks like us and cares to entertain us! This very learned and intelligent writer!!! Thus, readers are led into the emotional focus and the identification with the narrator's actual alliances. Another tension in the book (another contradiction ?) is that between the fact that Wolfe works to make readers believe he is not interested in influencing their opinion-in spite of his clear participation or being there-and the fact that at the same time he is clearly concerned with building credibility to back his purposes, his stated purposes (Foreword xiii-xv) and also his non-stated purposes: polishing the image of the military in a subliminal manner, pointing to the amazing power of the media to "create reality" and to the fact that there are other type of reporters who can do it better. The fact that Wolfe wishes to have a distinct voice and uses actual material to report on reality does not mean he refuses to gain credibility as a communicator, as a reporter of events, as a guardian of an ideological position.

§71. The Right Stuff is an example of the dangers that literary journalism-literature and journalism and literary journalism-may encounter. Trying to honor publicly admiration to the prowness of the military interferes with the freedom needed to explore events and their meanings, even if we are dealing with courage. Thus, I do not consider TRS a quality example of New Journalism or literary journalism; moreover, I suspect TRS is a propaganda piece, written for very specific purposes taking advantage of momentum, a timely contribution in support of traditional values at a time of significant social change.

 

Next: Part IX. Works Cited & Consulted

Please, quote the author and the site: michelle renyé, at mujerpalabra.net.
Another quotation style: michelle. "Wolfe's The Right Stuff. Some Comments on Formal Issues & the Timely Chanting of Military Heroism. An Essay on a Best-Seller". Mujer Palabra. 2005. Path: Pensamiento. Date of Access <https://www.mujerpalabra.net>.