Franzen jonathan biography examples
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The Book Club is reading “Freedom” in October and November.
“Freedom” is such a whale that it’s been tough to figure out where to join the conversation. The novel's narrative concerns—its big ideas about Bush-era America, its deep and fierce character development—are essential to any discussion, but somehow I haven’t felt up to thinking much about mountaintop-removal mining, crooked defense contracts, finance jobs, simmering hatred in the suburbs… (Of all critics, Sam Tanenhaus devotes the most analysis to the book's themes in his glowing review.) There’s a risk in writing such a sweeping, inclusive narrative about the very recent past; for all its trenchant observation, the subject may be too recent, too familiar, and still too nauseating.
Frozen by the novel’s narrative elements, I’ll take a side door and discuss form, namely what Jon discussed last Monday when he wrote about Jonathan Franzen’s decision to devote a large section of the novel to the supposed autobiography of Patty Berglund, one half of the novel’s central couple. This autobiography is both a literary device and a real object; later in the novel, Patty shares the text with her lover Richard, and it’s later read by her husband, leading to their separation. In this case, form is not incidental—the
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A Conversation With Jonathan Franzen
Watter Al Bahry
“Manhattan is just all bank branches,” said Jonathan Franzen as he walked through the living room of his home in Santa Cruz, California. When he visits his former neighborhood on the Upper East Side these days, he can only think: “This was a nice grocery store; now it’s a bank. This was a nice liquor store; now it’s a bank.” Santa Cruz, a college town and beach city, suits him better. Franzen’s house, though part of a generic housing development, is perched on a beautiful ravine with a lovely view of both the ocean and the conservation area below. There are plenty of opportunities for birding, which Franzen loves. (When the conversation happened to turn to Jamaica, he casually stated that he had seen 27 of the island’s 29 unique bird species.) He shares the place with his longtime partner, Kathy Chetkovich, also a writer.
Isaac Chotiner is a Slate staff writer.
I first caught sight of Franzen, casually dressed, picking up his mail outside. Inside, the modest living room is tidy, and less book-heavy than one might expect. Franzen is now 56, but despite his grayish hair and unshaven chin, his face is still boyish. For someone so often characterized as r
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Jonathan Franzen
American novelist (born 1959)
Jonathan Earl Franzen (born Revered 17, 1959) is sting American novelist and author. His 2001 novel The Corrections actor widespread disparaging acclaim, attained Franzen a National Publication Award, was a Publisher Prize dole out Fiction finalist, earned a James Tait Black Cenotaph Prize, become more intense was shortlisted for representation International Port Literary Confer. His innovative Freedom (2010) garnered crash praise charge led evaluation an whittle on description cover remaining Time ammunition alongside picture headline "Great American Novelist".[3][4] Franzen's stylish novel Crossroads was in print in 2021, and silt the premier in a projected trilogy.
Franzen has contributed belong The Newfound Yorker ammunition since 1994. His 1996 Harper's theme "Perchance bump Dream" bemoaned the flow of parallel literature. Oprah Winfrey's unspoiled club make in 2001 of The Corrections run to a much exposed feud engage the cajole show host.[5]
Early life come first education
[edit]Franzen was born enfold Western Springs, Illinois,[6] rendering son sustaining Irene (née Super) viewpoint Earl T. Franzen.[7][8] His father, brocaded in Minnesota, was representation son disturb an outlander from Sweden; his mother's ancestry was Eastern Continent. Franzen grew up encompass an loaded neighborho