Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the

early 20th century.[1]

Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is
known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical
writing. His books, written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American
culture and the mores of that period, filtered through Wolfe's sensitive, sophisticated, and hyper-
analytical perspective.

After Wolfe's death, contemporary author William Faulkner said that Wolfe might have been the
greatest talent of their generation for aiming higher than any other writer. [1][2] Wolfe's influence extends
to the writings of Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac, and of authors Ray Bradbury and Philip Roth,
among others.[3] He remains an important writer in modern American literature, as one of the first
masters of autobiographical fiction, and is considered North Carolina's most famous writer.[4]