Jonathan Franzen

>>9931809
hes not

>>9931809
Oprah

His books aren't bad - Freedom is quite good.

>>9931823
The beginning of the blurb for my copy of The Recognitions reads:
>Dubbed by Jonathan Franzen the "ur-text of postwar fiction"

And the Wiki article for The Recognitions goes out of its way to mention that
>In 2002 writer Jonathan Franzen said that this novel was, "by a comfortable margin, the most difficult book I ever voluntarily read..."

>>9931823
>His 2001 novel The Corrections, a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His novel Freedom (2010) garnered similar praise and led to an appearance on the cover of Time magazine alongside the headline "Great American Novelist".[3][4]

>Franzen has become recognized for his opinions on everything from social networking services such as Twitter ("the ultimate irresponsible medium")[5] and the proliferation of e-books ("just not permanent enough")[6] to the disintegration of Europe ("The people making the decisions in Europe are bankers. The technicians of finance are making the decisions there. It has very little to do with democracy or the will of the people") and the self-destruction of America ("almost a rogue state").[7]

>>9931849
lmao what a fucking pleb hahahahaha

>>9931850
>to the disintegration of Europe ("The people making the decisions in Europe are bankers. The technicians of finance are making the decisions there. It has very little to do with democracy or the will of the people")
wtf is he /ourguy/?

>>9931850
hes slightly above stephen king and jk rowling in terms of writing talent but his books are ultimately more boring than both lmao

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>>9931809
Franzen somehow pisses off both SJW's for his erudition and avoidance of PC and 'highbrow' /lit/bois who think that any fiction not overwhelmingly difficult is for plebs or pseuds.
Read Freedom, read The Corrections. He's the best and most important author currently in their prime

>>9931849
Mr. Difficult is a pretty entertaining read.

>>9931880
What's funny is when I picked The Corrections up from a thrift store the clerk made sure I knew how difficult of a book it is and how she couldn't make it 50 pages in, and wished me good luck.

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>>9931867
and DFW is right between franzen and stephen king amirite lmao

>>9931809

What did he mean by this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPCB29a63W4

>>9931893
Excuse me, continuing the copy I have has post-its with words with definitions up to around page 50
Gerontocratic
Metallurgy
Ostensible
Gubernatorial
Refutation
Crepuscular
Comportment
Ostentatious
Effulgent
Arrogated

>>9931910
Well I guess that answers the "Will they ever learn?" question

>>9931850
Wtf I love Franzen now.

>>9931913

You honesty think those are difficult words? You never heard "ostentatious" used? Come on anon, read read read

>>9931913
ah man, some of these are things you learn in high school
effulgent is literally a punch line in a buffy episode

>>9931955
No, that was the previous owner's notes.

>>9931955
You're so eager to posture as superior that you didn't read anon's post correctly.
A+

>>9931893
Is it supposed to be actually difficult or just very dense and boring (a la IJ)

>>9932241
It's like reading Harry Potter compared to even IJ, way higher quality than HP but very, very easy to read fast. DESU part of that is just because it flows well and is engaging. It's not dense but it is a little depressing at times

Hey everyone thanks for posting about me!

>>9931913
>Metallurgy
That guy was a retard

>>9932215

The split post threw me off

So let me correct myself: whoever didn't know what "ostentatious" meant was a dipshit and yes I hold whoever it is in contempt. Thank you for correcting me you fuckhead

>>9931809
he is the cuck maximus

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>"I am literally, in terms of my income, a 1 per center, yes,"
>“I spend my time connected to the poverty that’s fundamental to mankind, because I’m a fiction writer.”
> “I’m a poor person who has money.”
> “We do have a cleaner, although even that I feel some justification because we pay her way more than is standard and she’s a nice Filipino woman who we treat very well and we’re giving her work.”
What a wanker.

literally the epitome of "neurotic white guy"

>>9931880
come on man, freedom was like one step better than a nicholas sparks book

>DUDE BIRBS LMAO

>>9934560
Franzia writes social novels. The kind that people who read Nicholas Sparks can pick up and understand. Like how Dickens wrote social novels that could be read to and understood by the working class. He's tried the high-pomo shit, and he tried (and succeeded, imo) with the corrections to meld it with a social novel. Freedom, though, is meant for the masses. Doesn't mean it's not good.
Idk man. I've read pretty widely, but no novel has wowed me and really wrenched my gut like Freedom. I saw my self, my family, and my country presented honestly and poignantly in that book. The flaws and anxieties of the characters: I recognized them in myself, buried pretty deep. When I pick up a book, I hope that it gives me the same experience Freedom did. Granted, The Corrections nor Purity gave me that feeling, so he's not infallible. But for my two cents, Freedom is my favorite.

>>9931809
Branding. He positioned himself as the literary novelist for those who want to consider themselves highbrow but don't really like highbrow literature that much. That's what "Mr. Difficult" was really all about. Enough littérateurs like him, and a couple of his books are just good enough, so that he sort of got away with it.

>>9931880
The corrections is ok (because is a comfy read and because both prose, structure, scenes feel dense and articulated), but freedom was shit

>>9935239
>I saw my self, my family, and my country

That explains a lot.