Tom Wolfe is a most egocentric and occasionally outlandish fellow. How DARE he call John Irving, Norman Mailer and John Updike "the Three Stooges" in his recent "Hooking Up"? On the other hand, "The Right Stuff" is a significant book and Wolfe's description of the alcoholic reporter waking up with a hangover in "Bonfire of the Vanities" is one of the great scenes in all of English literature.

This goes to demonstrate, I think, that a fellow can be flaming brilliant and extraordinarily skilled with words yet still succumb to pomposity and appear an ass.