Tom Wolfe – Eunuchs of the Universe : A Gift from All Digital Newsweek

January 7, 2013

Tom Wolfe travels in transemdia

How Wall Street Has Gone Even Further Wrong  : The Eunuchs Of The Universe Have Replaced the Masters of The Universe

Eunuchs Of The Universe is Tom Wolfe’s new, and of course, searing indictment of Wall Street. It sure is entertaining!  For anyone who loved Wolfe’s novel, Bonfire of the Vanities, I would encourage you to read  the amusing and operatic piece. You can read the full Tom Wolfe story here for free.

 The story kicks off Daily Beast/Newsweek’s first all digital distribution of its magazine   for the new year.   As you  may know, the Daily Beast/Newsweek has stopped printing hard copies as of December, 2012. Newsweek had been a hard print  institution since 1933. I remember the old days working inside the studio system when we were fortunate to win a  Newsweek cover for one of our movies. It meant millions of dollars in advertising value for it would be seen everywhere.

The Digital Cover - January 2013

The Digital Cover – January 2013

Tom Wolfe’s piece is a lost leader for Newsweek/The Daily Beast for  the Tina Brown publication is giving the story away for free, heralding with appropriate ballyhoo a further  milestone in this fast changing world.

The irony of all this should not be lost. Tom Wolfe paints a scary picture of the brave new world of wall street where the testosterone-pumping, ruthless traders of the 1980s ( “Masters of the Universe”) have been replaced  by colorless,  secret societies of number-modelers who have cracked the system (the Eunuchs Of The Universe) .It would seem that Tom Wolfe had a lot more fun writing about the sinners of the 80s, over the bland eunuchs of today.

Everything has become more efficient, just as digital distribution has made things more efficient, but less exciting. Do you remember the old days when you could walk past a news stand and collate and curate what was happening, just by letting your owns eyes scan the mass of colorful covers? Or when you could talk to the news stand guy what was moving fast of his shelves that morning?

The good news is that Tom Wolfe has the same brilliance and gusto at 81 as when he was writing  The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test at 35.  His journalistic acumen still runs strong. It is well worth reading — even on the tablet of your choice.

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2 responses to Tom Wolfe – Eunuchs of the Universe : A Gift from All Digital Newsweek

  1. Thanks for posting this.