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Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage
Jonathan 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 Drawing on unpublished emails and both published and private interviews, Philip Weinstein conveys the feel and heft of Franzen's voice as he ponders the purposes and problems of his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 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 The Comedy of Rag e 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.
Franzen's work raises major questions about the possibilities of contemporary 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 The Comedy of Rag e 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.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 3, 2015
A high brow book report...
In the introduction to this book, Weinstein writes, “persons attempting to find in my book a standard biography of Jonathan Franzen will be … disappointed.” This would not be an issue had the description in Amazon started with this line. Instead, it said, “Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage is the first critical biography of one of today’s most important novelists.” Unfortunately, Weinstein’s warning was accurate.
This is not a biography of Jonathan Franzen. If readers know anything about Franzen, then they know more than this book will reveal. The Comedy of Rage is simply a book report. Weinstein writes about the books and stories Franzen has written and gives a detailed critique of each. Any reference to Franzen’s life is only an attempt to tie the writing to the man, as any novelist knows, a writers work may have a reflection of one’s life but iis not a one to one correlation.
The analysis of the characters in each of Franzen’s novels is somewhat interesting, but why not just read the novels for yourself? Weinstein writes as if this is a paper being presented to a gathering of English professors and he needs to impress them with his grasp of language. Franzen’s novels are complex, challenging, and literary. A book report does not need to be.
The other warning that should have come with this book is that it is full of spoilers. If a reader has not read Franzen, especially his newest – Purity, Weinstein reveals way too many plot points that will spoil the enjoyment of discovery.
My advice would be to pass on this book, unless you have read all of Franzen’s work. But if you have, then there is no need to read this unless you need fodder for a book report of your own.
This one gets two stars.
In the introduction to this book, Weinstein writes, “persons attempting to find in my book a standard biography of Jonathan Franzen will be … disappointed.” This would not be an issue had the description in Amazon started with this line. Instead, it said, “Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage is the first critical biography of one of today’s most important novelists.” Unfortunately, Weinstein’s warning was accurate.
This is not a biography of Jonathan Franzen. If readers know anything about Franzen, then they know more than this book will reveal. The Comedy of Rage is simply a book report. Weinstein writes about the books and stories Franzen has written and gives a detailed critique of each. Any reference to Franzen’s life is only an attempt to tie the writing to the man, as any novelist knows, a writers work may have a reflection of one’s life but iis not a one to one correlation.
The analysis of the characters in each of Franzen’s novels is somewhat interesting, but why not just read the novels for yourself? Weinstein writes as if this is a paper being presented to a gathering of English professors and he needs to impress them with his grasp of language. Franzen’s novels are complex, challenging, and literary. A book report does not need to be.
The other warning that should have come with this book is that it is full of spoilers. If a reader has not read Franzen, especially his newest – Purity, Weinstein reveals way too many plot points that will spoil the enjoyment of discovery.
My advice would be to pass on this book, unless you have read all of Franzen’s work. But if you have, then there is no need to read this unless you need fodder for a book report of your own.
This one gets two stars.
June 6, 2016
Like others have complained, this book suffers from false advertising. There's very little biographical information about Franzen (you'd probably have better luck doing a Google search if you want that). The book doesn't even mention Franzen's birth date, which I found baffling. However, as the preface explains, this book is more of a critical analysis of Franzen's writing. In fact, the whole preface felt like the author holding up his hands saying "Whoa, whoa, whoa...what's on the book jacket is not exactly what's in this book at all." If you do like critical analysis of Franzen's writing, you might enjoy this. I was hoping to find more "behind the scenes" information, like Franzen's writing process, writing habits, publishing details, and other similar things - stuff you find in more traditional author biographies - and sadly this book is just not that. So that's either the fault of the book or just me having different wants than what the book gives, and thus, maybe I'm not the right reader for this.
September 18, 2017
One writer appraising and analyzing another doesn't pass for biography or even entertainment. Too much name-dropping familiarity and yet boring, distanced observations leave this reader cold. Non grazie.
February 3, 2016
I feel a bit ambivalent about this book. It’s certainly readable – mostly – but somewhat prolix and a rather heavy-going example of academic literary criticism. I’ve enjoyed Franzen’s last 3 novels and I enjoyed reading Weinstein’s in-depth accounts of them, but I’m not sure that overall I learned a great deal about Franzen himself in what is billed as a critical biography. Based on personal correspondence and interviews, it’s nevertheless certainly not a conventional cradle-to grave biography although there’s quite a lot of detail about Franzen’s early years, and much about his evolution as a writer. It’s not a flattering portrait of Franzen as a man although Weinstein seems convinced of his subject’s greatness as a writer. The examination of the individual novels felt like extended book reviews and became a little tedious and repetitious after a while. As Franzen’s in mid-career, it seems a strange time to write this book, but it has its merits and will surely appeal to fans of Franzen’s writing. I’m glad I read it, and it has indeed deepened my understanding of both the man and his work.
December 16, 2016
the few chapters that aren't analyses of his books are better than the many that are.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews