Alan Cheuse‘s review of Jonathan Franzen‘s much-anticipated new novel, Freedom, appeared on All Things Considered yesterday…and begs the question of what kind of compassion we look for in novels.
NPR Reviews the New Franzen
Who Wrote the Golden Plates?
For centuries, inquiring theologians have wondered about the authorship of The Bible. Now a writer at the LARB, William L. Davis, raises a related question: who really wrote The Book of Mormon?
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Shepard’s Final Word
“He wrote the first drafts by hand, and when that became too difficult, dictated sections of the book into a tape recorder.” Before his death in July, playwright and actor Sam Shepard wrote a novel called Spy of the First Person, which is forthcoming from Knopf in December. From our archives, a list of writers who also act.
Certainly Got My Attention
Good Books is an online book retailer that donates all of its proceeds to Oxfam. It’s also a big fan of trippy literary homage. In a collaboration with two creative studios, and without consulting the Hunter S. Thompson or Franz Kafka estates, the group’s released a promo that draws on some of the most “out-there” elements of both writers.
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Add Poems to Your Curriculum
Are you familiar with “Teach This Poem“? If not you should be. This organization just won the National Book Foundation’s 2018 Innovations in Reading Prize. Their literary social impact mission? Help teachers add poetry to their curriculum; “Each week, The Academy of American Poets emails out a poem along with interdisciplinary information — classroom discussion questions and multimedia offerings like maps, videos, photography, and related reading suggestions. Everything is curated to help teachers incorporate poetry into the classroom experience.” Find out more about the prize and the org here.
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“The equal of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Turgenev”
Recommended Reading: Eileen Battersby on a new translation of the Russian writer Nikolai Leskov.
Best Last Lines
The American Book Review has a list (pdf) of the 100 best last lines from novels. I can’t think of mine; I keep getting “last line” confused with “end.” Thoughts? (Thanks Shakesville).
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Is Humbert Humbert Jewish?
“What [Vladimir] Nabokov is actually doing in Lolita is deliberately drawing on all manner of anti-Semitic propaganda, from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Nazi caricatures of the Jewish ‘type,’ to create in Humbert Humbert the anti-Semitic cliché of legend, rather as, say, Chaucer draws on medieval misogynist writings to create in the figure of the Wife of Bath the archetypal shrew of his male audience’s nightmares.”
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I look forward to reading “Freedom,” but with some unease, because Cheuse (and other things I’ve read) make it sound as if Franzen is repeating himself — the new book appears to be very much in the same vein as The Corrections; i.e., another satire of middle-class life. He did it so well the first time, that the second go-round will almost certainly be a disappointment. It’s a safe choice of subject matter, and I hadn’t thought of Franzen as a safe writer up till now.
It’s a horrible review that though – doesn’t really say a great deal. Excited to read this, but agree a little with Tom – sounds like Franzen is in his safety zone here…