Jonathon Franzen has had a lot of hype lately ....

Front cover of Time, Picked by Oprah then declined by Franzen, and his new novel 'Freedom' being out this month. I have listened to a CD of his essays written for the New Yorker plus, this week, I listened to a very long CD of Corrections which won a National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. I have to admit I don't care much for contemporary writers or post modernists if that's what you want to call them. Without the CD to listen to, I wouldn't have approached the novel. It is an easy listen while you are doing another chore. But has anyone else listened to or read Franzen? The modernists or writers of fifty years or so ago, I can get involved with: Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald etc. When I hear of a new American novelist, I want to give him a try, but Franzen's book is overly long and not very interesting to begin with. I'm beginning to think that fiction is dead as far as American novelists go. What do you think?

Apologies for this post not being an answer to your question, but what all contemporary authors have you read and found unsatisfactory?

There are some good contemporary American authors, although probably not as many as there used to be. Ralph Ellison and Don Delillo come to mind, in the non-fictional realm. In fiction, Raymond E. Feist and - say what you will about him - Christopher Paolini are decent. You just have to know where to look, I guess.

asking about opinions on Franzen because he seems to be the darling of the critics who perhaps are of his age and can relate to him better than I. Also, I wanted to keep the discusson to American writers. I have enjoyed Cormack McCarthy, although I don't know how he won the Pulitzer with The Road and its repetition. Don DeLilo is another one suffering from not enough editing: when you get past the first chapter of Underworld where BobbyThompson hit "the shot heard round the world", the book becomes uninteresting and I couldn't finish it. Philip Roth the same way. I have never been able to finish a book by Roth.

I have read Franzen's collection of essays, How to be Alone, prior to reading The Corrections (I am too ADD to stick with listening to audio books; I end up doing 5 other things!). My impression of Franzen is completely biased because he mirrors so many of the frustrations I have been harboring over the last few years as a reader and a writer. For that, Franzen made me feel a part of a larger community instead of an "outsider" trying to hold a literary mirror up to the impatience and consumerism technology is exacerbating in the world!

Neither his essays nor his novel, The Corrections, feel like the disjointed, fragmentary pastiche of the usual vein of postmodernism--for this I am thankful. I quite enjoyed The Corrections, and I appreciate Franzen's honesty as a truculent lover of the literary lifestyle and his exhaustive search to find his place in a world seemingly unconcerned with serious reading and writing. What is all comes back to is that the serious reader and writer should welcome himself back into the world instead of fighting against it and holding him- or herself above the world.

So, again, I am biased in that Franzen helped me unclench my fists, take a breath, calm down. I think he is a gifted writer, both nonfiction and fiction, who is able to articulate common concerns if not offer a medium through which to sublimate the concerns.

I agree with you. I picked this up at the Barnes & Noble, just glancing at the summary, and yawn. Oprah's endorsement means nothing to me. Most modern "literature" is self-indulgent and narcissistic, IMO.

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Originally Posted by LuggageFan

Most modern "literature" is self-indulgent and narcissistic, IMO.

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Care to elaborate?

I was captivated by the first 175 pages of Freedom. It's started to wear a little thin since. I've actually started reading War and Peace because of a bit where Freedom references it and I think I might actually finish that, all 560,000 words of it, before I finish Freedom. Why do people like Franzen? Probably because he does something that most 20th century authors failed to do: he integrates some of the strengths of the 19th century novel WITH modern elements. Freedom is extremely readable, extremely well written, it has the omniscientish narration that was the hallmark of the 19th century novel and some of nearly authorial commentary that came along with it- something I've missed in 20th century novels- without feeling especially traditional. That's rare today: something that is genuinely literary without being intensely experimental. And it's bound to play well with major art critics who are, let's face it, not literary theorists and who probably secretly appreciate novels that tell themselves. I can't say if I'll love Freedom in the end- it depends on whether Franzen can make me care about his characters again- but I like him better than most modern writers.

Your opinion gels with mine. I was able to finish (listening to a cd 19 discs long) Corrections,which is more than I can say for many contemporary writers which I have abandoned after a few chapters. I'll try Freedom if I can get it in a cd. I reserve my reading time for the classics. Franzen needs to cut down on length. If he ever gets to the level of a Maugham and has more interesting characters, his novels might prove more interesting. What is happening to editing? Connections is no Of Human Bondage and needed 200 plus pages omitted.

War and Peace held my interest from beginning to end. So did Anna Kerenina and Ressurection. The first time through these novels, I read each one. I listened to Anna K. recently since I had read it before, but found it to be as absorbing as the first time through. Tolstoy's characters are so much more interesting than contemporary writer's characters.

I must respond to a few things on this thread:

I have read Franzen's three previous novels. Haven't gotten to Freedom yet. Like laymonite, I think he is a gifted novelist. I see no reason to associate him with modern or postmodern schools. All of his novels are quite traditional. dfloyd compares his characters unfavorably with Tolsoy's, saying that those in Anna Karenina are more interesting. I can't agree. Half of Tolstoy;s characters are well drawn—the evil and troubled half. But the virtuous ones, Levin and Kitty Shcherbatsky, for example, are boring abstractions. This is a major problem, since, structurally, the novel juxtaposes sections addressing their affairs with those of Anna, Vronksky, and Karenin. Franzen's characterizations are spot on from what I have read and he has a great ear for dialogue.

As for Cormac McCarthy, here I will agree with dfloyd: The Road is not his best work. For me this novel, and No Country for Old Men, read like movie treatments. He is milking Hollywood now for all it is worth, and I don't blame him. His early Appalachian novels (Suttree, The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark) are amazing. This is where he honed that flawless technique and shocking clarity and poetic precision of language. He could have gotten an award for any of these early novels. Perhaps the Pullitzer is an acknowledgment that he didn't get the recognition he deserved earlier?

Don DeLillo needed an editor for Underworld? Once again must disagree with dfloyd. This novel is a masterpiece. The main character, Nick Shay, is the quintessential portrait of a life undermined by an unshared secret.

So in answer to the main question: Is American fiction dead? Even after the demise of one of its greatest, William Gaddis, I'd answer a resounding no.

I found your post interesting so I hope we can agree to disagree. Our conflicting opinions are probably brought about by age differences. I am about the same age as Al, the father, in Connections. While Franzen's writing was lucid, it was overbearingly long. And, especially at my age, I am not interested in long dissertations about older men who must wear diapers. I didn't say that Tolstoy was above criticism. I could have picked any author of long classic novels to make my point.

I saw "Freedom" on the store bookshelves today, and it is another long novel, and having already sampled Franzen's work, I will decline to read this one (or listen to a cd as I usually do with easily absorbed fiction). It is a growing trend with publishers to produce longer novels, but some readers, such as myself, will drop by the wayside with a long novel which doesn't hold the reader's attention.

As for DeLilo, I read the long first chapter of Underworld with interest. I saw Bobby Thompson hit the home run as described in the book. The three spectators, Frank Sinatra, Toots Shure (sp?), and Jackie Gleason with their bantering dialogue provided an excellent background for the "Shot heard round the world". But to call the novel a 'masterpiece' is a bit much. After another hundred pages, I lost interest in DeLilo and had to give up. Young readers probably never heard of Toots or, possibly, Jackie Gleason. Soon, people will be saying, "Frank who?"

Franzen himself says the art of fiction is dying in America. He is helping it along with these overly long novels. but he is not the only one: Thomas Pynchon is publishing works weightier than the Manhatten phone directory. And he is a novelist I used to adore.

I've read a lot about Franzen and his latest novel, how amazing he is, and how overrated he is; how Freedom is America's greatest novel of the millennium, and how it's overhyped crap.

But I haven't yet read anyone explaining what the novel is about, describing any of its plot or even giving the impression that they're reasonably acquainted with its contents.

If someone has read this novel, till the end, what is it about anyway?

I started listening to 'Connections' on cd. This book was perfect for first time thru listening on cd. This is the one for which he won the National Book Award and was in the running for the Pulitzer. Highly acclaimed by the critics, but you can never trust them. 'Connections is the story of a dysfunctional family of mother, father, 2 sons, and daughter where the mother is attempting to get them all together at the family home for one last Christmas. If this doesn't sound very exciting it's because it isn't.

'Freedom' just hit the stores last week so most will not have read it as yet. Based upon my experience with 'Connections', I should bypass it. Some will probably like it, as some liked 'Connections'. In 'Connections', the subject matter appeared to be autobiogrphical, and the writing was clear, an easy read, but overly long and somewhat boring. Definitely not the Great American novel.

I will reiterate that a read through of Franzen's essays collected in How to be Alone will help tremendously with the approach to his fiction. Otherwise, yes, it is all a boring tale of dysfunctional families (re: The Corrections) that cannot live up to the over hype, mostly due to his rejection of Oprah's brand being stamped on his work.

I just looked for some information about Freedom and noticed that Amazon readers rate it three stars. While that isn't definitive, it makes me wonder. I also noticed that the page count is 562, which is a bit much.