I read the Jonathan Franzen article in Time today and I must say that I now feel much better about Franzen. I was under the impression he was sort of snobby but that is far from the case. In fact he seems rather humble and unassuming.
The article, if you haven’t read it yet, isn’t a blow you away sort of thing but a pretty standard author profile. I suppose the big deal about it is that it is in Time and Franzen is on the cover. It is not unprecedented but presidents and business executives show up on the cover far more often than writers do so it’s something.
Here’s a paragraph from the article that I thought you all would like:
Reading, in its quietness and sustained concentration, is the opposite of busyness. We are so distracted by and engulfed by the technologies we’ve created, and by the constant barrage of so-called information that comes our way, that more than ever to immerse yourself in an involving book seems socially useful,” Franzen says. “The place of stillness that you have to go to to write, but also to read seriously, is the point where you can actually make responsible decisions, where you can actually engage productively with an otherwise scary and unmanageable world.”
We are being socially useful when we read a book. How about that?
The article also talks a little about Franzen’s new book, Freedom, and I am definitely going to have to read it because it is set in St. Paul, Minneapolis’s not as hip and cool twin. The book comes out at the end of the month. I now have to decide, do I buy it or do I wait in line for it at the library? I’m tempted to buy. I can call it a reward for finishing my summer school quarter. Heh.
Time was kind enough to make available online the five novels that have recently inspired Franzen. I like that they are recent inspirations and not an all time sort of list. And it is always interesting to see what well thought of writers read. He made me laugh when he says you can safely skip whole chunks of Philip Roth’s Sabbath’s Theater.
I’ll be drawing a name for a copy of Barnacle Love about this time tomorrow night. Enter the giveaway while you still have a chance.
I’ve never read Franzen, but I had the same idea about him as you did–probably thanks to the Oprah incident. I don’t actually follow Oprah or watch the show, but it all seemed so snobby to me when he declined interviewed by her–maybe I don’t know the whole story, though. In any case it’s funny how we form these little opinions by the things we hear–I have this issue and will make a point of reading it this weekend. I have his book The Corrections, so I should start there, but I have also put in a request that my library order his new one as well.
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I read that article too and really liked it! I’m looking forward to read Freedom. (And I love the picture of his work space- so simple!) 🙂 But I didn’t know about the giveaway, thank you for the link Stefanie.
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I will have to read that… I keep meaning to read The Corrections, but then other people tell me it’s okay to skip that one, and I haven’t gotten around to searching out other Franzen books.
I love that quote about reading, however. I have been suspecting for a few months that this sort of growing distraction/unhappiness I’ve noticed in a certain corner of my heart could have contributing factors found in altogether too much screen time, and not enough reading time/art time/nothing-time. I’ve been making a conscious effort to slow down the last few months but it’s too easy to get sucked into the internet void, even for interesting topics!!
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I thought it was a really worthwhile article, if only in that it corrected my errant presumptions about his elitism; like you, I’d gotten that idea about him and unfairly so it would seem. I thought the way they presented not only his reading choices (as you’ve mentioned) but also the timeline of “The Changing of the Guard” was interesting too: so the article added to my reading list in a variety of ways!
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Uh-oh, Kakutani recommends it, but that’s okay. Often that means I will hate a book,m but sometimes she and I both like a book (just for very different reasons). Franzen definitely comes across as a nice, likable guy in The Discomfort Zone.
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I love that quote – yay for the social benefits of reading! And now I really must read The Corrections, because I’ve had it for ages and have always been meaning to. Not being able to follow Oprah in the UK I had no idea Frantzen had muddied his name – I heard lots of things about his novels being emperor’s new clothes but nothing about snobbishness. And I thought it was an interesting list of inspirational books – all of them pretty heavy going (that Stendhal is no light read). But I definitely, definitely think you are due a reward, Stefanie!
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That does sound like a good interview.
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I can’t help but feel that Franzen unfairly gets a bad rap for the Oprah incident and other things. I suspect he has an unfortunate way of saying just the wrong thing at the wrong time and people don’t really get the full context. But maybe I’m being too kind … I’d like to read the new book as well. I see that I need to do something socially useful and bury myself in a good book 🙂
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Dorothy, you piqued my curiosity. I didn’t know what happened, so I looked it up. The Wikipedia article basically says that Franzen was worried the Oprah sticker on the book would dissuade men from reading it as they associate Oprah’s selections with women’s reading. Interesting. I think he actually has a point, there. Getting teenage boys to read is hard, and I know some of them commented on the Oprah stickers on some of the books we read. At any rate, it doesn’t sound like he was exactly nasty about it so much as caused some misunderstanding. The Wikipedia article says Oprah canceled the end-of-book dinner.
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Danielle, I think my impression of Franzen came from the Oprah incident too even though I don’t watch Oprah. After reading the article I feel badly about it because he was completely misinterpreted. Poor guy.
Lua, I know, after seeing that photo of his work space I wanted to immediately make mine as simple and Zen-like. I didn’t, but I still wonder if I could.
Daphne, I hear on the too much screen time and the void of the internet. I was just thinking the other day that it might be nice to plan an unplugged weekend once my school quarter is over in a week.
Buried in Print, yes, I forgot to mention that timeline, it was very interesting, wasn’t it? I have added several books to by TBR because of the article.
Emily, just pretend you don’t know Kakutani’s opinion of it. I was thinking of getting The Discomfort Zone to read over my short school break but I caved and ordered Freedom because it was half price and I couldn’t resist.
Litlove, isn’t great to be called socially useful when we have so often as readers been called anything but? I thought the inspirational books were interesting too. And I did indeed reward myself 🙂
Dorothy, the Oprah thing is pretty much where I got my opinion of him but then afterwards I didn’t hear anything to make me change my mind until the Time article. I’m willing to give the guy a chance so I ordered the book over the weekend.
Dana, I don’t blame Franzen for not wantin the Orpah sticker on his book. I have many times not bought a book because of the sticker even though I know the book is good and want to read it. Hopefully the article will go a ways toward dispelling all the misunderstandings. I know it worked for me!
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