CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — A marathon reading of "Look Homeward, Angel" kicked off Monday in a style author Thomas Wolfe might have liked for his 100th birthday: a lovely day sprinkled with confusion.
"It's Wolfe's favorite month, the weather's perfect," said English professor Joseph Flora, chairman of the Wolfe centennial committee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wolfe's alma mater.
"Of course, he lived in New York, so the mass confusion, for the sort of writer he was, I can take it."
Wolfe was born Oct. 3, 1900, in Asheville and graduated from the university before earning a master's degree at Harvard and teaching briefly in New York. His first book was "Look Homeward, Angel." He died in 1938 of tuberculosis.
On Monday, Flora had to shout to be heard over traffic and a persistent jack hammer at a nearby construction site as reader after reader stepped up to a small microphone to share a section of the novel.
Flora said Wolfe inspired a generation of writers. In his day, Wolfe ranked with Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and "Look Homeward, Angel" has never been out of print, Flora said.
"It's a difficult kind of reading," Flora said. "Wolfe celebrates memory. He's lyrical. If you want a traditional novel, Wolfe's not your cup of tea."
About 100 people signed up for the reading, which was to end Tuesday with a birthday cake big enough to befit the 6-foot-6 Wolfe and remarks by a 98-year-old woman who knew him.
The reading was just one of the events to mark Wolfe's birthday. On Tuesday, a stamp featuring Wolfe was to be issued in Asheville and an exhibit displayed at the New York Public Library.
On the Net:
UNC Arts site: http: www.artscarolina.org
Wolfe home historic site: www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/wolfe/wolfe.htm