Jonathan Franzen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jonathan Franzen
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Franzen at the 2011 Time 100 gala
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| Born | Jonathan Earl Franzen August 17, 1959 LaGrange, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist, essayist |
| Education | Swarthmore College (BA) |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Literary movement | Social realism, New Sincerity |
| Notable works | The Corrections (2001) Freedom (2010) Crossroads (2021) |
| Notable awards | National Book Award 2001 James Tait Black Memorial Prize 2002 |
| Spouse |
Valerie Cornell
(divorced) |
| Partner | Kathy Chetkovich |
Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is famous for his novels and essays. His book The Corrections (published in 2001) was a huge success. It won a National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
His 2010 novel Freedom also received great reviews. It even led to him being on the cover of Time magazine. His most recent novel, Crossroads, came out in 2021. It's the first book in a planned series.
Franzen has written for The New Yorker magazine since 1994. He once had a public disagreement with Oprah Winfrey when she chose The Corrections for her book club.
Contents
Growing Up and School
Jonathan Franzen was born in Western Springs, Illinois. He grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. His father's family came from Sweden.
He went to Swarthmore College and earned a degree in German in 1981. He also studied in Germany for a year. He even speaks German fluently! After college, he moved to Somerville, Massachusetts. He wanted to become a novelist.
While writing his first novel, he worked at Harvard University. He helped with research in Earth and Planetary Sciences.
His Writing Career
Early Novels
Franzen's first novel, The Twenty-Seventh City, was published in 1988. It takes place in his hometown of St. Louis. The book talks about the city's past importance. Critics liked this long novel. It showed that Franzen was a writer to watch. He later said he was "a skinny, scared kid trying to write a big novel."
His next book, Strong Motion (1992), is about a family with problems. It uses earthquakes as a way to show the big changes in family life. Franzen said it was about "violently opposing systems of making sense in the world." This book didn't sell very well at first.
The Corrections
Franzen's novel The Corrections became very popular. It won the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction. It also won the 2002 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The book was even a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
In 2001, The Corrections was chosen for Oprah Winfrey's Oprah's Book Club. Franzen first agreed to be part of it. He even did an interview with Oprah. But later, he said he felt uneasy about the choice.
Oprah then canceled his appearance on her show. She said he seemed "uncomfortable and conflicted." This event got a lot of attention in the news. The Corrections then became one of the best-selling books of that time. Franzen later thanked Oprah at the National Book Award ceremony.
In 2011, there were plans to make The Corrections into a TV show for HBO. But HBO decided not to make it. They said the book's story was too hard to turn into a TV series.
Freedom
In 2009 and 2010, Franzen published parts of his new novel, Freedom, in The New Yorker. The book was released in 2010. Critics praised it a lot.
In the United Kingdom, there was a strange "recall" of Freedom. An earlier version of the book was accidentally published. The publisher had to offer exchanges for the correct version.
When promoting Freedom, Franzen became the first American author to be on the cover of Time magazine since 2000. The headline called him a "Great American Novelist."
In September 2010, Oprah Winfrey announced that Freedom would be another one of her book club selections. This time, Franzen appeared on her show. They talked about the book and the past disagreement. Franzen said that writing Freedom was influenced by the death of his friend, David Foster Wallace.
Purity
In 2012, Franzen said he was working on a new novel. He thought it would be a long book. He said he needed "room to let things turn around over time."
His fifth novel, Purity, was published in September 2015. It's a big story that covers many years and different places. The story is about a young woman named Purity Tyler, or Pip. She wants to find out who her father is. The story goes from modern America to South America and even East Germany before the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
There were plans to make Purity into a TV series for Showtime. Daniel Craig was set to star in it. However, the show was very expensive to make. It is unlikely to be produced. Purity didn't sell as many copies as his previous two novels.
A Key to All Mythologies
In 2020, Franzen's publisher announced a new novel called Crossroads. This book is the first part of a series called A Key to All Mythologies.
Crossroads was published on October 5, 2021. Most reviews for the novel were positive. Some critics called it Franzen's "finest novel yet." The New York Times said it was "warmer than anything he's yet written."
The story is about a pastor, his wife, and their four children. It has two main parts: 'Advent' and 'Easter'. One critic said that in Crossroads, "every plotline leads to God."
Other Works
In 1996, Franzen wrote an essay called "Perchance to Dream" for Harper's Magazine. In it, he wondered about the role of novels in modern society. He decided that writers should focus on characters' feelings. This idea became important for his later successful novels.
He also wrote essays about other writers. In 2002, he wrote "Mr. Difficult" about the author William Gaddis. He talked about how some books are hard to read. He also wrote about his own childhood in "The Discomfort Zone" (2004). This essay was about his family life and his love for the comic strip Peanuts.
Franzen has published several collections of essays. These include How to Be Alone (2002) and The Discomfort Zone (2006). These books explore his thoughts on reading, society, and his own life.
In 2007, Franzen's translation of a German play called Spring Awakening was published. He had translated it many years earlier for a college project.
In 2012, he published Farther Away, another essay collection. It included essays about his love for birds and his friendship with David Foster Wallace. In 2013, he published The Kraus Project. This book included translations of essays by an Austrian writer named Karl Kraus. Franzen added his own notes and comments to these essays.
His third essay collection, The End of the End of the Earth: Essays, came out in 2018. These essays talk about his family, his early life in New York, and important issues like the global seabird crisis.
In 2019, Franzen wrote an essay about climate change for The New Yorker. It caused some debate because of its serious tone.
Writing Advice
In 2010, The Guardian newspaper asked Franzen for his top ten rules for new writers. Some of his advice included:
- Treat the reader like a friend.
- Try to avoid using the Internet while writing.
His Personal Life
In 1982, Jonathan Franzen married Valerie Cornell, who was also a writer. They were married for 14 years. He has written about his marriage and divorce in some of his essays.
Today, Franzen lives in Santa Cruz, California. He lives with his partner, Kathy Chetkovich, who is also a writer.
Franzen is known for being a serious birdwatcher. He has talked about his love for birds on TV shows. He also served on the board of the American Bird Conservancy for nine years. A documentary film about bird conservation, based on his essay, was released in 2013.
He is also a big fan of the punk-rock band The Mekons. He appeared in a documentary about them in 2014.
In 2010, something funny happened at a book launch event in London. Someone stole Franzen's glasses right off his face! They joked about asking for a lot of money for them. But the police found the person and returned the glasses.
Awards and Honors
- 1981 Fulbright Scholarship to Germany
- 1988 Whiting Award
- 1996 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 2000 Berlin Prize (American Academy in Berlin)
- 2001 National Book Award (Fiction) for The Corrections
- 2001 Salon Book Award (Fiction) for The Corrections
- 2002 James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner (Fiction) for The Corrections
- 2010 Salon Book Award (Fiction) for Freedom
- 2010 Galaxy National Book Awards, International Author of the Year, Freedom
- 2011 Heartland Prize for Freedom
- 2011 John Gardner Award (Fiction) for Freedom
- 2012 Carlos Fuentes Medal (Inaugural award)
- 2013 Welt-Literaturpreis
- 2015 Budapest Grand Prize
- 2015 Euronatur Award for outstanding commitment to nature conservation in Europe
- 2017 Frank Schirrmacher Preis
- 2022 Thomas Mann Prize
Other Recognition
- 1996 Named one of Granta's Best Of Young American Novelists
- 2001 The New York Times Best Books of the Year for The Corrections
- 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (for The Corrections)
- 2001 Oprah's Book Club Selection (for The Corrections)
- 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist (Fiction)
- 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award finalist
- 2003 International Dublin Literary Award (short list)
- 2009 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Visitor American Academy in Berlin
- 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (for Freedom)
- 2010 The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010 list (for Freedom)
- 2010 The New York Times Best Books of the Year (for Freedom)
- 2010 Oprah's Book Club selection (for Freedom)
- 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Fiction) finalist (for Freedom)
- 2010 Elected to the Akademie der Kunste, Berlin
- 2011 Named one of Time Magazine's Time 100
- 2012 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 2012 Elected to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
- 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism) shortlist for The Kraus Project
- In January 2011, The Observer named him as one of "20 activists, filmmakers, writers, politicians and celebrities who will be setting the global environmental agenda in the coming year".
- On May 21, 2011, Franzen gave the commencement address at Kenyon College.
- On June 16, 2012, Franzen gave the commencement address at Cowell College, UC Santa Cruz.
TV Appearances
- In 1996, Franzen appeared on Charlie Rose with his friend, author David Foster Wallace. They talked about the future of American fiction.
- He appeared on Charlie Rose several times in the early 2000s. He discussed his novels and essay collections.
- In 2006, Franzen was a guest star on The Simpsons episode "Moe'N'a Lisa". He was shown arguing with another writer about books.
- In 2010, Franzen was on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote Freedom.
- In 2015, he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and CBS This Morning for his novel Purity.
- In 2016, Franzen was on Jeopardy! for Power Players Week. He played for the American Bird Conservancy. He also appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
- In 2018, he was on CBS This Morning – Saturday. He talked about his passion for birds and birdwatching.
See also
In Spanish: Jonathan Franzen para niños
