If you read that 5 times over, maybe it's worth including more of the context of the phrase:

> Mr. Roth was the last of the great white males: the triumvirate of writers — Saul Bellow and John Updike were the others — who towered over American letters in the second half of the 20th century.

Seems that "great white males" refers to a specific trio of writers -- all white men -- who were seen as the giants of American literature in a specific era in history.

What's your specific objection?

That he used the term "great white males" when he should have used "Great Male Narcissists". Would a high school newspaper even make a mistake such as this? It's either sloppy, malicious, or both.

If someone referred to a "great black male" writer would you be equally offended? Or do you object to mention of his race? His sex? These details help paint a picture. They are not mentioned to offend.

If you read the article, he is defining this group of 'great white males' to be three writers who the literary world actually refer to as 'The Great Narcissists'.

https://www.dfwsociety.org/2017/12/02/call-for-papers-great-...

He specifically substituted 'narcissist' with 'white male' as if he's using it as a synonym.

He's not defining it, he's using a term readers might be familiar with:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/donotmigrate/3562536/Joh...

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2017/08/28/michiko-k...

Sorry, I'm not following. Is "Great Male Narcissists" a popular pronoun in this context?

You've linked to something associated with David Foster Wallace, but the author of the NYT obit is not David Foster Wallace.

Both terms seem equally redundant. Why stress?

Calm down.

I believe the term has to do with age, and not race.

It's a post-war (WW2) term that's been used for decades to describe Roth and certain other writers, such as Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Salinger, Bellow, Updike and others. It's a term to describe a group of certain authors that wrote about certain themes, similar to the Hollywood term "Brat Pack".

Silly me, I didn't know "white" is a term that describes age.

It's often used (as in this case) a colloquial term alluding age via hair color (IOW, "white-haired" old people).

I think it's meant to be a pun on "great white whale" - there's an idea of the "Great American Novel" which is the mythical book standing at the apex of American literature.

Moby-Dick is both a template for the Great American Novel and a convenient metaphor for authors who chase it. It's an old-fashioned way of thinking about the novel.

And this may be a contentious statement, but: It's probably not a coincidence that the traditional contenders for "Great American Novelist" have tended to be white males. Roth, Bellow, Updike, but also Hemingway, Pynchon, Gaddis, etc.

That doesn't detract from those authors' accomplishments. I think it says more about how the canon has evolved.

"Mailer, Updike, Roth-the Great Male Narcissists* who’ve dominated postwar realist fiction are now in their senescence, and it must seem to them no coincidence that the prospect of their own deaths appears backlit by the approaching millennium and on-line predictions of the death of the novel as we know it."

David Foster Wallace (1997)

http://observer.com/1997/10/john-updike-champion-literary-ph...

The author of the article does not use "great white males" as a personal pronoun. Nor does the article you linked include any mention of race.

It's not - the pendulum is beginning to swing in the other direction. People are starting to wise up to and reject these group identity narratives, as evidenced by the rising popularity of people like Jordan Peterson.