The first mention of birdwatching in Purity, the fifth novel from Jonathan Franzen, occurs less than five pages from the beginning, in a short aside about the title character’s mother. Then surprisingly, for nearly 500 pages, […]
Tag: Jonathan Franzen
Leave Jonathan Franzen Alone
The first sentence of “Father Away,” Jonathan Franzen’s essay about spreading the ashes of David Foster Wallace off the coast of Masafuera, ingeniously ends with the word “lobsters.” Over the course of seven clauses, Franzen semantically ferries […]
An EXCLUSIVE Excerpt from Jonathan Franzen’s New Novel “Purity”
If the beautiful, perfect heart in the chest of Philip Roth ever stops beating, which it shouldn’t, Jonathan Franzen will become the greatest living American novelist. When news broke yesterday that Mr. Franzen’s new novel, Purity, […]
