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Tom Wolfe to speak at University's 127th Commencement ceremony By Eric McHenry

On May 21, Tom Wolfe will exchange his signature white linen suit for a scarlet ceremonial gown. The iconic author of best-selling fiction and literary journalism will address the Class of 2000 at BU's 127th Commencement.

Novelist, journalist, and commentator Tom Wolfe. Photo: Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis

In keeping with tradition, President Jon Westling disclosed the speaker's name at the annual Senior Brunch, held May 5 in the George Sherman Union's Metcalf Hall. "I am pleased to announce," said Westling, "that you will be addressed by one of America's most prescient observers, a celebrated journalist, novelist, and commentator, the author of such classic bestsellers as The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and A Man in Full ..." As Westling ticked off titles, an audible buzz began spreading among the seniors. When he finally revealed the speaker's identity -- "the man in the white suit himself, Mr. Tom Wolfe" -- the cheers and applause lasted nearly 20 seconds. For four decades, Wolfe has been winning praise for the trenchant cultural criticism that animates his writing, including -- perhaps especially -- his novels. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which followed Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters across the country in a school bus, was the definitive dispatch from the countercultural frontlines of the 1960s. The Bonfire of the Vanities, a tale of urban avarice, seemed to say something fundamental about the 1980s. And reviewers of A Man in Full, a '90s novel whose title character is an Atlanta real estate tycoon, suggest that it, too, can serve as a time capsule for future generations. "I think that Mr. Wolfe can lay serious claim to being the greatest contemporary observer of American grandeur and folly," said Westling. "He's skewered the pretensions of our arts but has celebrated our greatest artists. He's characterized the mau-mauing and the acid dropping of the '60s while extolling the courage of the decade's spaceflight pioneers. "In his novels, frequently compared to the work of Charles Dickens, Mr. Wolfe has led his readers through the thickets of greed and honor, love and suspicion, that sometimes seem to be the natural habitat of the modern American," Westling said. "There is no writer living today better prepared than Mr. Wolfe to cast a discerning eye on the world, and you are soon to hear from him." Wolfe was born in Richmond, Va., in 1931. He earned a bachelor's degree from Washington and Lee University in 1951 and a Ph.D. in American studies from Yale University in 1957. After working for several years in newspaper and magazine journalism, he published his first book, the essay collection The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, in 1965. The Right Stuff, Wolfe's look at Navy and NASA pilots on the cusp of the space age, won the American Book Award for general nonfiction in 1980. A Man in Full, published in 1998, is his twelfth book.

Westling also announced this year's Baccalaureate speaker, Smith College President Ruth Simmons. She and Wolfe will be joined on the Commencement platform by actress and alumna Olympia Dukakis (SAR'53, SFA'57), historic preservationist Norman Leventhal, and former Chelsea, Mass., City Manager Guy Santagate. All five will receive honorary doctorates from the University.

1 June 2000
Boston University
Office of University Relations