Word: shermans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Power and those it attracts are the subjects of Wolfe's novel. And Sherman McCoy is at the heart of it all--the axis of a limited world, the universe of social New York. The world where $1 million a year is barely enough income and the Co-op board has more control over your life than the police...
McCoy, as he reminds himself over and over, is The Master of the Universe. The top bond trader for a prestigious Wall Street firm, Sherman McCoy wears his invincibility in the form of cashmere overcoats and tailored suits. His Park Avenue apartment, and even his social-climbing wife, are all marks of his Master status...
...power, as the truism goes, has its limits. In the concentric worlds that comprise modern New York, a character like Sherman McCoy is impotent should he venture beyond the insularity of chauffeur-driven cars and prepschool networks. Away from Wall Street, McCoy's life becomes the grist for other New York types, each one consumed by a drive for power. The gallery that Wolfe presents is compelling and yet predictable--his types are compiled from the people profiled in New York Magazine, Manhattan, Inc. and page six of the New York Post...
...thrown to a pack of hungry press animals, anxiously waiting in front of the precinct house to tear McCoy apart as he is arrested. The circus arrest is followed by the drama of a holding tank, complete with sinister Bronx criminal types, rats and other indignities to Sherman McCoy's person. By the time McCoy is arraigned, the Master of the Universe has become the scum of the earth...
This message is a frightening one, challenging the security and morality of a way of life for nearly 8 million inhabitants. Sherman McCoy is no Ivan Boesky, but rather a complex and almost enduring character. He sees nothing wrong with his code of conduct, expects nothing less than perfect acceptance of the world. And that world explodes in his face--perishing in the flames the culture that produced Masters of the Universe and Masters of the Ghetto...