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How to Be Alone : Essaysby Franzen, Jonathan
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Book DescriptionNew York, NY, U.S.A.: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Book and dustjacket show slight shelfwear. Now protected in mylar. Book summaryEssays by the author of THE CORRECTIONS, including Franzen's thoughts on the U.S. postal system, smoking, and Dumpster diving, and--of course--his famous Harper's piece on the state of American fiction. A New York Times Notable Book for 2002.Media Reviews"The good news delivered by HOW TO BE ALONE for anyone who cares is that Franzen's downbeat mood has begun to lift. No longer a miserabilist, Franzen has made a separate peace with the anachronistic calling of being a serious writer in America....A pious opportunist, Franzen earnestly lobbies for the literary theory that affords him best commercial advantage, that improves his position in the marketplace." -- James Wolcott, New Republic "[I]t becomes clear that [Franzen's] anxiety about the collapse of literary privilege is symptomatic of a more general unease....At present, in Franzen's humane pessimistic view, our individuality is under assault from all quarters, and the novel is part of a web of modern institutions...undermined by the irresistible (that is, both unstoppable and undeniably attractive) forces of standardization and privatization. To point this out is, inevitably, to sound like something of a crank, and the accomplishment of this book is to offer its cranky author and his like-minded readers a suitably contradictory and ambiguous consolation: we're not alone." -- A. O. Scott, New York Times Book Review Publisher NotesThe author of The Corrections reprints his 1996, "The Harper's Essay," offering additional writings that consider a central theme of the erosion of civic life and private dignity and the increasing persistence of loneliness in postmodern America. Other Recommended Books
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