“Loneliness wasn't just a state of mind, was it? It was tactile. She could feel it. It was a sixth sense, not in some fanciful play of words, but physically. It hurt... it hurt like phagocytes devouring the white matter of her brain. It wasn't merely that she had no friends. She didn't even have a sanctuary in which she could simply be alone.”

American author and journalist

Tom Wolfe was an American author and journalist associated with New Journalism. He became known for writing in a style that brought literary techniques into reporting, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. His work often takes a satirical view of American life, with close attention to the counterculture of the 1960s, class, social status, and the habits of New York City’s economic and intellectual elite. That mix of reportorial detail and sharp social observation is central to his reputation.