In the 21st century, the voices and visions of fiction writers rarely factor centrally in the cacophony that is the United States’ so-called national conversation. Instead, influential fictions generally, and novels specifically, tend to impact individual Americans and the larger zeitgeist indirectly. This is especially true of serious fiction lucky enough to be adapted into commercially successful films, which can create retroactive demand not just for their source texts, but also other works by the same writer. Yet during this period Jonathan Franzen, none of whose works has been adapted for film, accrued a virtually unrivaled level of fame and cultural influence. In the wake of the publication of his fourth novel,
Freedom(2010), Franzen would see his brooding visage grace the cover…
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Citation: Hawkins, Ty. "Jonathan Franzen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 August 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5962, accessed 23 November 2024.]
