The sheer amount of pretension that comes from Franzen should be a scientific quantity. His "youthful arrogance" has just continued to "adult arrogance."
Aw, sorry David. Another friend texted me after listening to this chat saying something similar. I will say, from my end, I didn't perceive him that way at all.... In our chats leading up to the interview, and before and after the interview, my sense was he was incredibly kind, thoughtful, introspective, self-critical, self-wondering ... you know, basically a person just trying to show up and do their best, like any of us are.
Just read The Corrections earlier this month. Loved it so much I basically inhaled it over a period of two days. Being a middle-aged man who's now in the unenviable position of taking care of my elderly parents I really felt like, for the first time in ages, an author was writing my life. It has that painful-but-powerful combination that happens when the ugly truth meets the poetically beautiful. Both of those elements are necessary in great literature; the former so that we feel that profound connection to life and people and don't fall into delusive perspectives, the latter so that we can find the strength to carry on. Looking forward to listening to this discussion, and to reading more Franzen.
Thanks for sharing, Jonathan! Wow, reading 'The Corrections' in two days is no small feat. Sending you energy as you take care of your parents and hope you like the chat. Lemme know what jumps out for you - good or bad. (Btw, if you haven't read 'Crossroads' yet I feel like it has that same magic you're talking about ... incredibly real and vivid characters that constantly reflect something back.)
If you haven't already stumbled upon it, google Jonathan Franzen My Father's Brain. It's a piece he did for the New Yorker published right around when The Corrections came out, it reads as a real life companion piece to show how personal some of the inspiration for Alfred and Enid Lambert was. It's also the opening essay to How To Be Alone. I've been a fan of The Corrections for years but just recently picked up How To Be Alone and was just as impressed by the essay, a lot of profound stuff in there.
@@aidanmcgloine Thanks Aidan! Haven't read it - he has so much good stuff!!! - but just found it and will check it out. Many thanks! www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/09/10/jonathan-franzen-my-fathers-brain
I liked it altough some of the reactions of the interviewer were a little bit too much (woooow!) for my taste. I learned interesting stories and things about Franzen's life and experiences. Worth the 2,5 hours!
@@NeilPasricha1 sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! I hope I didn't. the important thing is that it is so rare that I have the time to watch a 2,5 interview, and it was really amazing. thank you.
@@julcsiszigeti1243 Oh definitely not!! Read the comments on my Tarantino interview ... I got way thicker skin than that !! It took a few years to develop at the beginning. But now, like yesterday, when I got a personal email in all-caps telling me to GO FUCK MYSELF (and a lot more) I just smiled, replied, and the guy wrote back apologizing and saying he had a bad day. Which is what happens *literally every time* I do that. Not comparing, because in no way was your comment offensive at all. I just mean you're not even close to that .. :)
@@NeilPasricha1 Dude, instead of reiterating what my fellow Hungarian Franzen - fan (sight for sore eyes) was vaguely referring to about your being overcome with emotions (those woows).... i found em' rather amusing to the point that i really anticipated them ... it added a great comedic edge to your style (which must have struck Mr Franzen too , as i' ve never heard him conduct an interview without any patronizing/cynical retorts interwoven in his answers)
@@Interwurlitzer Oh that's interesting !! Or maybe I just caught him on a good day ... I have heard that people their 60s tend to be happiest and he's suddenly 65!! (I interview another potentially-happier-than-usual 60-something here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VVFdvfiPB-w.html)
@@NeilPasricha1 i just loved the questions! it was great to learn more about jonathan franzen; especialley since there are lot of interviews with him already on the internet and sometimes it gets repetitive a bit... but this interview really gave me NEW insights and brought out new topics he never publically spoke about before (the whole narnia section for example). I really apreciate that.
Jonathan Franzen's novels are understandably polarizing, but any truly great novelist will always have their haters. You can't write truthful fiction without also being an agitator. Reading Franzen's novels has been excellent instruction for me as I write my own fiction, and listening to his opinions on writing is always fun, even on the occasions when our views don't wholly coalesce. Thank you for the video!
@@goldwhitedragon Oh, nice! I love those old Charlie Rose interviews on YT. Some classics in there like the one where he asks DFW about all the movies he's seen recently LOL.
I got to the don't read crap part and had to check out. Writing is rhetorical, it has to meet the reader where they are. Franzen and others like him, will never understand that. When Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man one of his main concerns was being able to convey his vision to a reading audience that may not know the first thing about the African American experience. Franzen on the contrary believes that anything he says should be figured out for what it is: without him having to change his language to something more familiar, which I suppose he believes he has that luxury. Because some magazine editor thinks his books are important.
Appreciate the feedback! It's interesting - I actually took his comments slightly differently. I mean, yeah, he was saying, you know, with finite time, etc, it's important to consume good-quality stuff ... but, then, later, he also says that reading can / should / is, for a lot of people, an escape, a way to relax, etc. ("It is a luxury to engage with things in a complicated way.") I read Jonathan Franzen! Annnnnnd I also read, like, Garfields. I agree with no book shame, no book guilt. And, again, thanks for listening and sending a note!
@NeilPasricha1 i think you were trying to give the other side of it and be more diplomatic, but he doubled down on it. No, it's crap. I am far more of the charles Bukowski school who faulted "literary" novels for being boring. Which most are because most of them have no concept of a plot.
Hey everyone! I'm a RU-vid newb. Will aim to respond to all comments here and would love your feedback on how I can get better. Oh! And my most popular 3 Books podcast episodes on RU-vid are: Brené Brown ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X5l-Auv7h8Y.html Quentin Tarantino ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VVFdvfiPB-w.htmlsi=6lfs8lCTcib David Sedaris ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wzz8tqnz1mI.html
@@NeilPasricha1 Franzen’s Oprah snub put me off his work, even though I own 2 of his books, I haven’t read them. Now I will. It was your entire dialogue that I enjoyed because there was a very high level of respect and honesty between you. I always learn lots of small things from your probing questions, but it’s hard to be specific because I listened to your Tarratino interview right after and don’t want to confuse them. I listened to your podcast many years but then fell off exploring others and just found you again on RU-vid. Glad I did, you’re an outstanding interviewer. Thanks.
@@rosemarybanks7149 Thanks for the thoughtful reply Rosemary. I podcast surf the same way !! no podcast guilt, no podcast shame. Yeah, I dug deep on that "Oprah snub" when researching and there was just so much more to what happened ... including them reconciling and her making his next book another pick!! I also got the sense he was sick of talkinga bout it. Thanks for listening to this + Tarantino ... you might like Daniels / George Saunders as they're in similar veins. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jdcWw7c6Uxo.html + ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hd6YMMeQFyQ.html
