Jonathan Franzen

The Comedy of Rage

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Jonathan Franzen by Professor Philip Weinstein, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Professor Philip Weinstein ISBN: 9781501307188
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: October 22, 2015
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic Language: English
Author: Professor Philip Weinstein
ISBN: 9781501307188
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: October 22, 2015
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English

Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage is the first critical biography of one of today's most important novelists. Drawing on unpublished emails and both published and private interviews, Philip Weinstein conveys the feel and heft of Franzen's voice as he ponders the purposes and problems of his life and art, from his earliest fiction to his most recent novel, Purity.

Franzen's work raises major questions about the possibilities of contemporary fiction: how does one appeal to a wide audience of mainstream readers, on the one hand, while persuading connoisseurs, on the other, that one's fiction has staying power, is high art? More acutely, how did Franzen move from the rage that animates his first two novels to the more generous comic stance of the later novels on which his reputation rests?

Wrestling with these questions, Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage unpacks the becoming of Franzen as a person and a writer-from his ultra-sensitive Midwestern childhood, through his heady years at Swarthmore College, his marriage, and the alienating decade of the 1990s, up to his spectacular ascent and assimilation into pop culture as one of the literary figures of his generation. Weinstein joins biography and criticism in ways that fully respect their differences, but that also grant that the work comes, however unpredictably, out of the life.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage is the first critical biography of one of today's most important novelists. Drawing on unpublished emails and both published and private interviews, Philip Weinstein conveys the feel and heft of Franzen's voice as he ponders the purposes and problems of his life and art, from his earliest fiction to his most recent novel, Purity.

Franzen's work raises major questions about the possibilities of contemporary fiction: how does one appeal to a wide audience of mainstream readers, on the one hand, while persuading connoisseurs, on the other, that one's fiction has staying power, is high art? More acutely, how did Franzen move from the rage that animates his first two novels to the more generous comic stance of the later novels on which his reputation rests?

Wrestling with these questions, Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage unpacks the becoming of Franzen as a person and a writer-from his ultra-sensitive Midwestern childhood, through his heady years at Swarthmore College, his marriage, and the alienating decade of the 1990s, up to his spectacular ascent and assimilation into pop culture as one of the literary figures of his generation. Weinstein joins biography and criticism in ways that fully respect their differences, but that also grant that the work comes, however unpredictably, out of the life.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book 'Death of a Salesman' in Beijing by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Exodus by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Beaufighter Aces of World War 2 by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Hungry People Better Results by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book P Is For Peloton by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Avery McShane by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Gathering for Tea in Modern Japan by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Nick Baker's Bug Book by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Lawyering Europe by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Sun Time Snow Time by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book The Gospel According to David Foster Wallace by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book A Feathered River Across the Sky by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book P-40 Warhawk vs Bf 109 by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Latin Momentum Tests for GCSE by Professor Philip Weinstein
Cover of the book Love Objects by Professor Philip Weinstein
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy