It’s been ten years now since Kanye West caused an immense stir in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by staring into a camera and saying, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” next to a memorably dumbfounded Mike Myers. (George Bush later said it was the worst moment of his presidency). Kanye West has of […]
Jonathan Franzen
The Privileged Rage of Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen has written a book about a writer once nicknamed the “Great Hater,” and announced it with an essay in which he hated on a lot of things, including Twitter, Salman Rushdie, Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Weiner, the Mac guy in Apple’s Mac vs. PC ads… the list is long. While his jabs against Bezos […]
Are we stripping modern books bare?
Reader Drew Turney wrote to me recently with an interesting question. There’s so much advice, commentary, and opinion about stripping away anything unessential to a book’s plot. Writing in the modern era emphasizes moving the plot forward at all costs, and everything else is “ruthlessly killed off no matter how darling.” Digressions and detritus that […]
Jonathan Franzen and a Fear of Noise
Jonathan Franzen, like any curmudgeon, is eminently easy to make fun of. From his hyperbolic denunciations of social media and e-book readers to his passion for birds to that whole Oprah thing… he’s an easy target. So I was extremely excited about seeing him speak in person this past Thursday. I even live-tweeted some quotes, […]
Why Are So Many Literary Writers Technophobic?
It seems like hardly a week goes by without one literary writer or another hyperbolically decrying the way we’re all going to hell in an electronic handbasket. First Jonathan Franzen argued that e-books are damaging society and suggested that all “serious” readers read print. Last week Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan complained of social networking, […]
What Is the Future of the Book Review?
Friend of the blog Stephen Parrish passed along a PW link about Washington Post book reviewer Ron Charles and his popular (and funny) video reviews. Here, for instance, is his review of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen: It got Stephen (and me) to thinking… what is the future of the book review? Do you read reviews? […]
