Book Review: My Impressions of the Wolfe Family and of Maxwell Perkins, by William B. Wisdom (1993)

William B. Wisdom is an important figure in Thomas Wolfe studies, as it was Wisdom that purchased Wolfe’s papers and manuscripts after Wolfe’s death and donated them to Harvard University. Two pamphlets of Wisdom’s writings about Wolfe were published by the Thomas Wolfe Society: The Table Talk of Thomas Wolfe, which recounted Wisdom’s meetings with Wolfe in New Orleans in 1937, was published in 1988, and My Impressions of the Wolfe Family and of Maxwell Perkins was published in 1993. The Table Talk of Thomas Wolfe is the more interesting volume, as it gives the reader some insights as to what Thomas Wolfe was like. 

My Impressions of the Wolfe Family and of Maxwell Perkins focuses on Wisdom’s purchasing of Wolfe’s papers and manuscripts from the Wolfe family after Thomas’s tragic early death in 1938 from tuberculosis. Wisdom was aided in his quest by Wolfe’s editor Maxwell Perkins. Perkins was more than just an editor, he was a true friend and mentor to Thomas Wolfe, and the Wolfe family put a lot of trust in Perkins. Scribner’s was the publishing house where Maxwell Perkins worked, and in addition to editing Wolfe, Perkins was also the editor for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. It’s pretty amazing that Perkins was editing three of the greatest American authors of that era. 

Julia Wolfe was the matriarch of the Wolfe clan, and she was a shrewd businesswoman who ran a boardinghouse and owned a substantial amount of property in Asheville, North Carolina. Wisdom knew that staying on Julia’s good side was key to maintaining a good relationship with the Wolfe family. 

It’s fascinating to read about the mundane details of Wolfe’s papers, like how Wisdom bought a huge storage trunk to transport Wolfe’s papers in. Wisdom also gives the reader an idea of the other Wolfe siblings. Suffice it to say, the Wolfe family was full of colorful characters, as anyone who has read Look Homeward, Angel will know. 

What I found to be one of the most interesting parts of the book was the section where Wisdom discussed Perkins’ and Wolfe’s differences. Perkins and Wolfe were always at separate poles politically, and Wisdom writes “Wolfe as he grew older was becoming more and more affected by social consciousness, which verged toward socialism.” (p.38) In some of Wolfe’s later short stories like “I Have a Thing to Tell You” and “The Party at Jack’s,” his social consciousness comes to the forefront and emerges as a core theme. I wonder how Wolfe’s political ideas would have evolved had he lived longer, and if his emerging social consciousness would have continued to be a theme in his work.