Jonathan Franzen

Franzen was born in Western Springs, Illinois,{{cite news|url=http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/authors/p/franzen.htm|title=Jonathan Franzen Biography – Bio of Jonathan Franzen|work=Contemporary Literature|access-date=September 23, 2010|archive-date=July 23, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723220431/http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/authors/p/franzen.htm}} the son of Irene (née Super) and Earl T. Franzen.{{cite news|first=Michele|last=Matassa Flores|url=http://crosscut.com/2010/09/15/books/20161/A-sweaty-palmed-night-with-Jonathan-Franzen/|title=A sweaty-palmed night with Jonathan Franzen|work=Crosscut.com|date=September 15, 2010|access-date=August 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721161947/http://crosscut.com/2010/09/15/books/20161/A-sweaty-palmed-night-with-Jonathan-Franzen/|archive-date=July 21, 2011}}{{cite news |last=Peck |first=Claude |date=February 13, 2012 |title=Jonathan Franzen's struggle for 'Freedom' |work=Star Tribune |url=http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/102110194.html?page=2&c=y |access-date=March 20, 2011 |archive-date=October 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022011832/http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/102110194.html?page=2 |url-status=live }} His father, raised in Minnesota, was the son of a Swedish immigrant; his mother's ancestry was Eastern European. Franzen grew up in an affluent neighborhood in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves, Missouri, and graduated with high honors from Swarthmore College, receiving a degree in German in 1981.{{cite web|url=https://www.swarthmore.edu/news-archive-2009-2011/jonathan-franzen-81-first-living-american-novelist-time-cover-decade|title=Jonathan Franzen '81 First Living American Novelist on Time Cover in Decade|date=August 16, 2010 |publisher=Swarthmore College|access-date=August 13, 2023}} As part of his undergraduate education, he studied abroad in Germany during the 1979–80 academic year with Wayne State University's Junior Year in Munich program. While there, he met Michael A. Martone, on whom he would later base the character Walter Berglund in Freedom.Ferguson, Mark. "75 Years of the Junior Year in Munich." Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching of German 40.2 (Fall 2007): 124-132; p.132. He also studied on a Fulbright Scholarship at Freie Universität Berlin in Berlin in 1981–82;{{cite web|url=http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/54|title=Jonathan Franzen|work=PEN American Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004044604/http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/54|archive-date=October 4, 2012}} he speaks fluent German.

Franzen married in 1982 and moved with his wife to Somerville, Massachusetts to pursue a career as a novelist. While writing his first novel, The Twenty-Seventh City, he worked as a research assistant at Harvard University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, coauthoring several dozen papers.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6054/jonathan-franzen-the-art-of-fiction-no-207-jonathan-franzen|title=Jonathan Franzen, The Art of Fiction No. 207|last=Burn|first=Interviewed by Stephen J.|date=2010|work=The Paris Review|access-date=June 20, 2018|issue=195|volume=Winter 2010|language=en|issn=0031-2037|archive-date=August 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822175855/https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6054/jonathan-franzen-the-art-of-fiction-no-207-jonathan-franzen|url-status=live}} In September 1987, a month after he and his wife moved to New York City, Franzen sold The Twenty-Seventh City to Farrar Straus & Giroux.{{cite news|first=Nina|last=Willdorf|url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi-page/documents/01997111.htm|title=An author's story: How literary It Boy Jonathan Franzen spun himself into a tornado of controversy|work=The Phoenix|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110020931/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi-page/documents/01997111.htm|archive-date=November 10, 2011}}

File:Jonathan Franzen, Author 1988.jpg

The Twenty-Seventh City, published in 1988, is set in Franzen's hometown, St. Louis, and deals with the city's fall from grace, St. Louis having been the "fourth city" in the 1870s. This sprawling novel was warmly received and established Franzen as an author to watch.[http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1992/01/20/terra-not-so-firma.html Laura Shapiro, "Terra Not So Firma," Newsweek, January 20, 1992.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725102157/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1992/01/20/terra-not-so-firma.html |date=July 25, 2012 }} (Shapiro: "A huge and masterly drama of St. Louis under siege, gripping and surreal and overwhelmingly convincing." Shapiro also noted The Twenty-Seventh City's "brilliance," and the author's "prodigious gifts," concluding, "The news that he is at work on a third [novel] is welcome indeed."] In a conversation with novelist Donald Antrim for Bomb Magazine, Franzen described The Twenty-Seventh City as "a conversation with the literary figures of my parents' generation[,] the great sixties and seventies Postmoderns",Antrim, Donald. [http://bombsite.com/issues/77/articles/2437 "Jonathan Franzen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814053258/http://bombsite.com/issues/77/articles/2437 |date=August 14, 2011 }}. Bomb Magazine. Fall 2001. Retrieved July 27, 2011. adding in a later interview "I was a skinny, scared kid trying to write a big novel. The mask I donned was that of a rhetorically airtight, extremely smart, extremely knowledgeable middle-aged writer."{{cite journal|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6054/the-art-of-fiction-no-207-jonathan-franzen|title=Jonathan Franzen, The Art of Fiction No. 207|journal=The Paris Review|author=Stephen J. Burn|date=Winter 2010|volume=Winter 2010|issue=195|access-date=January 21, 2011|archive-date=October 31, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031005440/http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6054/the-art-of-fiction-no-207-jonathan-franzen|url-status=live}}

Strong Motion (1992) focuses mainly on a dysfunctional family, the Hollands, and uses seismic events on the American East Coast as a metaphor for the quakes that occur in family life (as Franzen put it, "I imagined static lives being disrupted from without—literally shaken. I imagined violent scenes that would strip away the veneer and get people shouting angry moral truths at each other."). A 'systems novel', the key 'systems' of Strong Motion according to Franzen are "... the systems of science and religion—two violently opposing systems of making sense in the world." The novel was not a financial success at the time of its publication. Franzen subsequently defended the novel in his 2010 Paris Review interview, remarking "I think they [critics and readers] may be overlooking Strong Motion a little bit."

Franzen taught a fiction-writing seminar at Swarthmore in the spring of 1992 and 1994:

{{Blockquote

|text= On that first day of class, Franzen wrote two words on the blackboard: "truth" and "beauty," and told his students that these were the goals of fiction. Haslett describes Franzen's classroom manner as "serious." "He meant what he said and didn't suffer fools gladly." But this seriousness was leavened by a "great relish for words and writing," adds Kathleen Lawton-Trask '96, a 1994 workshop student who is now a writer and high school English teacher. "People who teach fiction workshops aren't always starry-eyed about writing, but he was. He read our stories so closely that he often started class with a rundown of words that were not used quite correctly in stories from that week's workshop. (I still remember him explaining to us the difference between cement and concrete.) At the same time, he was eminently supportive and sympathetic; I don't remember those corrections ever feeling condescending."{{cite magazine |last=Wachter |first=Paul |date=April 2011 |title=Six Degrees of Jonathan Franzen |url=https://bulletin.swarthmore.edu/bulletin-issue-archive/archive_p=635.html |magazine=Swarthmore College Bulletin |access-date=2019-07-12 |archive-date=July 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713020627/https://bulletin.swarthmore.edu/bulletin-issue-archive/archive_p%3D635.html |url-status=live }}}}

For the 1992 class, Franzen invited David Foster Wallace to be a guest judge of the workshop pieces.

{{main|The Corrections}}

Franzen's The Corrections, a novel of social criticism, garnered considerable critical acclaim in the United States, winning both the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction{{Cite web|title=National Book Awards 2001|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2001/|access-date=March 5, 2023|website=National Book Foundation|language=en-US|archive-date=April 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405101325/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2001/|url-status=live}}

and the 2002 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bookprizeinfo.com/showbook.php?book=225 |title=Book Prize Information – The Corrections |publisher=Bookprizeinfo.com |access-date=March 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129022848/http://www.bookprizeinfo.com/showbook.php?book=225 |archive-date=November 29, 2010 }} The novel was also a finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award,{{Cite web|url=http://www.penfaulkner.org/award_for_fiction_previous.php |title=PEN / Faulkner Foundation Award For Fiction Previous |publisher=Penfaulkner.org |access-date=March 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302080028/http://www.penfaulkner.org/award_for_fiction_previous.php |archive-date=March 2, 2010 }} and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (won by Richard Russo for Empire Falls).{{cite web |title=2002 Pulitzer Prizes |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2002 |website=pulitzer.org |access-date=June 13, 2023}}

In September 2001, The Corrections was selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club. Franzen initially participated in the selection, sitting down for a lengthy interview with Oprah and appearing in B-roll footage in his hometown of St. Louis (described in an essay in How To Be Alone titled "Meet Me In St. Louis"). In October 2001, however, The Oregonian printed an article in which Franzen expressed unease with the selection. In an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, he expressed his worry that the Oprah logo on the cover dissuaded men from reading the book:

{{blockquote|I had some hope of actually reaching a male audience and I've heard more than one reader in signing lines now at bookstores say "If I hadn't heard you, I would have been put off by the fact that it is an Oprah pick. I figure those books are for women. I would never touch it." Those are male readers speaking. I see this as my book, my creation.{{cite news|first=Terry|last=Gross|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1131456|title=Novelist Jonathan Franzen|work=Fresh Air|publisher=NPR|date=October 15, 2001|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-date=August 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817092355/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1131456|url-status=live}}|}}

Soon afterward, Franzen's invitation to appear on Oprah's show was rescinded. Winfrey announced, "Jonathan Franzen will not be on the Oprah Winfrey show because he is seemingly uncomfortable and conflicted about being chosen as a book club selection. It is never my intention to make anyone uncomfortable or cause anyone conflict. We have decided to skip the dinner and we're moving on to the next book."{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/08/jonathan_franzen_s_the_corrections_and_oprah_winfrey_s_book_club.html|title=Corrections|last=Kachka|first=Boris|date=August 5, 2013|work=Slate|access-date=August 17, 2018|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|archive-date=August 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817092804/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/08/jonathan_franzen_s_the_corrections_and_oprah_winfrey_s_book_club.html|url-status=live}}

These events gained Franzen and his novel widespread media attention. The Corrections soon became one of the decade's best-selling works of literary fiction. At the National Book Award ceremony, Franzen said "I'd also like to thank Oprah Winfrey for her enthusiasm and advocacy on behalf of The Corrections."{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_jfranzen.html|title=National Book Awards Acceptance Speeches: Jonathan Franzen|work=National Book Foundation|year=2001|access-date=April 4, 2007|archive-date=June 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614095239/http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_jfranzen.html}}

Following the success of The Corrections and the publication of The Discomfort Zone and How to Be Alone, Franzen began work on his next novel. In the interim, he published two short stories in The New Yorker: "Breakup Stories", published November 8, 2004, concerned the disintegration of four relationships; and "Two's Company", published May 23, 2005, concerned a couple who write for TV, then split up.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/jonathan_franzen/search?contributorName=jonathan%20franzen&page=1&sort=publishDateSort%20desc,%20score%20desc&queryType=parsed|title=jonathan franzen: Contributors|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=March 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607083522/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/jonathan_franzen/search?contributorName=jonathan%20franzen&page=1&sort=publishDateSort%20desc,%20score%20desc&queryType=parsed|archive-date=June 7, 2011}}

In 2011, it was announced that Franzen would write a multi-part television adaptation of The Corrections in collaboration with The Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach for HBO.{{cite news|first=Sean|last=O'Neal|url=https://www.avclub.com/noah-baumbach-developing-jonathan-franzens-the-correcti-1798227286|title=Noah Baumbach developing Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections as HBO series|work=A. V. Club|date=September 6, 2011|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=September 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920195656/http://www.avclub.com/articles/noah-baumbach-developing-jonathan-franzens-the-cor,61383/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|first=Lacey|last=Rose|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/noah-baumbach-take-jonathan-franzens-230893|title=Noah Baumbach to Take on Jonathan Franzen's 'The Corrections' for HBO|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=September 2, 2011|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809180619/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/noah-baumbach-take-jonathan-franzens-230893|url-status=live}} HBO has since passed on Corrections, citing "difficulty" in "adapting the book's challenging narrative, which moves through time and cuts forwards and back": that would be "difficult to sustain in a series and challenging for viewers to follow, hampering the potential show's accessibility."{{cite news|first=Nellie|last=Andreeva|url=https://deadline.com/2012/05/hbo-pilot-the-corrections-not-going-forward-265078/|title=HBO Drama Pilot 'The Corrections' Not Going Forward|work=Deadline|date=May 1, 2012|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=February 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140215090229/http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/hbo-pilot-the-corrections-not-going-forward/|url-status=live}}

In September 2019, The Corrections was voted sixteenth in a list of the 100 best books of the twenty-first century so far by writers and critics of the Guardian newspaper.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century|title=The 100 best books of the 21st century|author=Guardian Staff|date=September 21, 2019|work=The Guardian|access-date=September 22, 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=December 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206135810/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century|url-status=live}}

{{main|Freedom (Franzen novel)}}

{{external media| float = right| width = 230px | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?296688-14/freedom-novel Presentation by Franzen on Freedom: A Novel at the Miami Book Fair International, November 21, 2010], C-SPAN}}

File:Jonathan Franzen at the Brooklyn Book Festival.jpg]]

On June 8, 2009, Franzen published an excerpt from Freedom, his novel in progress, in The New Yorker. The excerpt, titled "Good Neighbors", concerned the trials and tribulations of a couple in St. Paul, Minnesota. On May 31, 2010, a second excerpt — titled "Agreeable" — was published, also in The New Yorker.{{citation |url= https://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/05/31/100531fi_fiction_franzen |magazine= The New Yorker |title= Agreeable |author= Jonathan Franzen |date= May 31, 2010 |access-date= April 16, 2020 |archive-date= June 3, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140603170149/http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/05/31/100531fi_fiction_franzen |url-status= live }}

On October 16, 2009, Franzen made an appearance alongside David Bezmozgis at the New Yorker Festival at the Cedar Lake Theatre, reading a portion of his forthcoming novel.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/festival/schedule/index/friday#bezmozgis|title=Festival|magazine=The New Yorker|date=January 7, 2009|access-date=March 15, 2010|archive-date=September 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921023212/http://www.newyorker.com/festival/schedule/index/friday#bezmozgis|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/11/55140/the-franzen-interface/|title=The Franzen Interface|work=North by Northwestern|access-date=March 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714194929/http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/11/55140/the-franzen-interface/|archive-date=July 14, 2011}} Sam Allard, writing for North By Northwestern about the event, said that the "...material from his new (reportedly massive) novel" was "as buoyant and compelling as ever" and "marked by his familiar undercurrent of tragedy". Franzen read "an extended clip from the second chapter."

On September 9, 2010, Franzen appeared on Fresh Air to discuss Freedom in the wake of its release. Franzen has drawn what he describes as a "feminist critique" for the attention that male authors receive over female authors—a critique he supports. Franzen also discussed his friendship with David Foster Wallace and the impact of Wallace's suicide on his writing process.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129747555|title=Franzen On The Book, The Backlash, His Background|work=Fresh Air|publisher=NPR|date=September 9, 2010|access-date=September 10, 2010|archive-date=November 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105181847/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129747555|url-status=live}}

Freedom was the subject of a highly unusual "recall" in the United Kingdom starting in early October 2010. An earlier draft of the manuscript, to which Franzen had made over 200 changes, had been published by mistake. The publisher, HarperCollins, initiated an exchange program, but thousands of books had been distributed by that time.{{cite news|first1=Alison|last1=Flood|first2=Rowenna|last2=Davis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/01/jonathan-franzen-freedom-uk-recall|title=Jonathan Franzen's book Freedom suffers UK recall|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=October 1, 2010|access-date=December 11, 2016|archive-date=July 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706131447/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/01/jonathan-franzen-freedom-uk-recall|url-status=live}}

While promoting the book, Franzen became the first American author to appear on the cover of Time magazine since Stephen King in 2000. Franzen appeared alongside the headline "Great American Novelist".{{cite news |last=Fehrman |first=Craig |date=August 16, 2010 |title=The Franzen Cover and a Brief History of Time |work=The Millions |url=http://www.themillions.com/2010/08/the-franzen-cover-and-a-brief-history-of-time.html |url-status=live |access-date=December 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210050751/https://themillions.com/2010/08/the-franzen-cover-and-a-brief-history-of-time.html |archive-date=December 10, 2019}} He discussed the implications of the Time coverage, and the reasoning behind the title of Freedom in an interview in Manchester, England, in October 2010.{{cite news|first=Dave|last=Haslam|url=http://www.davehaslam.com/Franzen.html|title=Onstage interview with celebrated American novelist Jonathan Franzen|work=Dave Haslam, Author and DJ – Official Site|date=October 3, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630045528/http://www.davehaslam.com/Franzen.html|archive-date=June 30, 2013}}

On September 17, 2010, Oprah Winfrey announced that Jonathan Franzen's Freedom would be an Oprah book club selection, the first of the last season of The Oprah Winfrey Show.{{cite news|first=Carolyn|last=Kellogg|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-sep-18-la-et-0918-franzen-oprah-20100918-story.html|title=Oprah's book club christens Franzen's 'Freedom'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 18, 2010|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=May 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518085802/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/18/entertainment/la-et-0918-franzen-oprah-20100918|url-status=live}} On December 6, 2010, he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote Freedom where they discussed that book and the controversy over his reservations about her picking The Corrections and what that would entail.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=12323137|title=Author Jonathan Franzen Appears on 'Oprah' Show|work=ABC News|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=February 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217071959/http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=12323137|url-status=live}}

Franzen has stated the writing of Freedom was influenced by the death of his close friend and fellow novelist David Foster Wallace.{{Cite news|last=Franzen|first=Jonathan|date=October 2, 2015|title=Jonathan Franzen: 'Modern life has become extremely distracting'|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/02/jonathan-franzen-writing-freedom|access-date=March 5, 2023|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=March 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170309174833/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/02/jonathan-franzen-writing-freedom|url-status=live}}

{{main|Purity (novel)}}

In an interview with Portland Monthly on December 18, 2012, Franzen revealed that he currently had "a four-page, single-spaced proposal" for a fifth novel he was currently working on,{{cite web|url=http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/q-and-a-with-jonathan-franzen-january-2013|title=Q&A: Jonathan Franzen|work=portlandmonthlymag.com|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-date=December 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121219085319/http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/q-and-a-with-jonathan-franzen-january-2013|url-status=live}} although he went on to suggest that while he had a proposal there was no guarantee that what was proposed would make the final cut, saying of similar proposals for previous novels, "I look at the old proposals now, and I see the one part of them that actually got made into a book, and I think, 'How come I couldn't see that? What is all this other stuff?'". Franzen also hinted that the new novel would probably also be long, adding "I've let go of any illusion that I'm a writer of 150-page novels. I need room to let things turn around over time and see them from the whole lives of other characters, not just the single character. For better or worse, one point of view never seems to do it for me." In October 2014, during a discussion at Colgate University, Franzen read a "self-contained first-person narrative" that is part of a novel that he hoped will be out in the summer of 2015.{{cite web|last1=Rice|first1=Jessica|title=Author Jonathan Franzen visits Colgate as part of Living Writers course|url=http://news.colgate.edu/2014/10/author-jonathan-franzen-visits-colgate-as-part-of-living-writers-course.html/|website=Colgate University|access-date=November 3, 2014|archive-date=November 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104014128/http://news.colgate.edu/2014/10/author-jonathan-franzen-visits-colgate-as-part-of-living-writers-course.html/|url-status=live}}

On November 17, 2014, The New York Times Artsbeat Blog reported that the novel, titled Purity, would be out in September.{{cite web|last1=Alter|first1=Alexandra|title=New Jonathan Franzen Novel, 'Purity,' Coming in September|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/new-jonathan-franzen-novel-purity-coming-in-september/|website=Colgate The New York Times Blog|date=November 17, 2014|access-date=November 17, 2014|archive-date=November 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119063706/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/new-jonathan-franzen-novel-purity-coming-in-september/|url-status=live}} Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, described Purity as a multigenerational American epic that spans decades and continents. The story centers on a young woman named Purity Tyler, or Pip, who doesn't know who her father is and sets out to uncover his identity. The narrative stretches from contemporary America to South America to East Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and hinges on the mystery of Pip's family history and her relationship with a charismatic

hacker and whistleblower.

In 2016, Daily Variety reported that the novel was in the process of being adapted into a 20-hour limited series for Showtime by Todd Field who would share writing duties with Franzen and the playwright Sir David Hare. It would star Daniel Craig as Andreas Wolf and be executive produced by Field, Franzen, Craig, Hare & Scott Rudin.{{cite news|first=Elizabeth|last=Wagmeister|url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/purity-showtime-daniel-craig-scott-rudin-1201753115|title=Showtime Lands Daniel Craig, Scott Rudin Limited Series 'Purity'|work=Daily Variety|year=2016|access-date=December 15, 2017|archive-date=December 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201100525/http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/purity-showtime-daniel-craig-scott-rudin-1201753115/|url-status=live}}

However, in a February 2018 interview with The Times London, Hare said that, given the budget for Field's adaptation (170 million), he doubted it would ever be made, but added "It was one of the richest and most interesting six weeks of my life, sitting in a room with Todd Field, Jonathan Franzen and Daniel Craig bashing out the story. They're extremely interesting people."{{cite news|first=Dominic|last=Maxwell|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/david-hare-i-am-sick-to-death-of-hearing-about-the-need-for-strong-women-as-protagonists-83scsqlsv|title=David Hare: 'I am sick to death of hearing about the need for strong women as protagonists'|work=The Times|year=2018|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-date=February 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213195612/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-hare-i-am-sick-to-death-of-hearing-about-the-need-for-strong-women-as-protagonists-83scsqlsv|url-status=live}}

Purity was a relative commercial disappointment compared to Franzen's two previous novels, selling only 255,476 copies, compared to 1.15 million copies of Freedom and 1.6 million copies of The Corrections.{{Cite news|last=Brodesser-Akner|first=Taffy|date=June 26, 2018|title=Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/magazine/jonathan-franzen-is-fine-with-all-of-it.html|access-date=March 5, 2023|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=June 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626165506/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/magazine/jonathan-franzen-is-fine-with-all-of-it.html|url-status=live}}

On November 13, 2020, Franzen's publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux announced the publication of Franzen's new novel, Crossroads, the first volume in a trilogy titled A Key to All Mythologies.{{Cite web|title=New Franzen Novel Set for October 2021|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/84894-new-franzen-novel-set-for-next-october.html|access-date=November 15, 2020|website=www.publishersweekly.com|archive-date=September 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930045816/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/84894-new-franzen-novel-set-for-next-october.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|url=https://www.facebook.com/fsgbooks/posts/10158203505803052 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/54710083051/10158203505803052 |archive-date=February 26, 2022 |url-access=limited|access-date=November 15, 2020|website=www.facebook.com|language=en}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|date=November 13, 2020|title=Briefs: New Books From Franzen and Bridges, Chronicle Expands In Games and Toys|url=https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2020/11/briefs-new-books-from-franzen-and-bridges-chronicle-expands-in-games-and-toys/|access-date=November 15, 2020|website=Publishers Lunch|language=en-US|archive-date=November 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113160516/https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2020/11/briefs-new-books-from-franzen-and-bridges-chronicle-expands-in-games-and-toys/|url-status=live}}

Crossroads was published October 5, 2021.{{Cite web|title=Crossroads: A Novel {{!}} Jonathan Franzen {{!}} Macmillan|url=https://us.macmillan.com/crossroadsanovel/jonathanfranzen/9780374181178|access-date=November 15, 2020|website=US Macmillan|language=en-US}}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

The novel received mostly favorable reviews, with a cumulative "Positive" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks, based on 48 book reviews from mainstream literary critics.{{Cite web|title=Book Marks reviews of Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen|url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/crossroads/|url-status=live|access-date=November 3, 2021|website=Literary Hub|archive-date=September 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930045825/https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/crossroads/}} Bookforum called it Franzen's "finest novel yet," his "greatest and most perfect novel,"{{Cite web|last=Guan|first=Frank|date=Fall 2021|title=Hell Can Wait|url=https://www.bookforum.com/print/2803/jonathan-franzen-makes-history-again-24609|url-status=live|access-date=November 3, 2021|website=Bookforum|language=en-US|archive-date=September 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907125316/https://www.bookforum.com/print/2803/jonathan-franzen-makes-history-again-24609}} and Dwight Garner of the New York Times said it was "warmer than anything he's yet written, wider in its human sympathies, weightier of image and intellect."{{Cite news|last=Garner|first=Dwight|date=September 27, 2021|title=Jonathan Franzen's 'Crossroads,' a Mellow, '70s-Era Heartbreaker That Starts a Trilogy|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/books/review-jonathan-franzen-crossroads.html|access-date=November 3, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103080432/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/books/review-jonathan-franzen-crossroads.html|url-status=live}} According to the Times Literary Supplement:

Crossroads is largely free from the vices to which Franzen's previous work has been addicted: the self-conscious topicality; the show-off sophistication; the formal heavy-handedness. It retains many of his familiar virtues: the robust characterization; the escalating comedy; the virtuosic command of narrative rhythm.{{Cite web|last=Gordon|first=Edmund|date=October 1, 2021|title=Divorce, Doubt and Doobies|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/crossroads-jonathan-franzen-book-review-edmund-gordon/|url-status=live|access-date=November 3, 2021|website=The Times Literary Supplement|language=en-GB|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929204241/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/crossroads-jonathan-franzen-book-review-edmund-gordon/}}

File:Jonathan Franzen 1.jpg

In 1996, while still working on The Corrections, Franzen published a literary manifesto in Harper's Magazine entitled "Perchance to Dream". Referencing manifestos written by Philip Roth and Tom Wolfe, among others, Franzen grappled with the novelist's role in an advanced media culture which seemed to no longer need the novel. In the end, Franzen rejects the goal of writing a great social novel about issues and ideas, in favor of focusing on the internal lives of characters and their emotions. Given the huge success of The Corrections, this essay offers a prescient look into Franzen's goals as both a literary and commercially minded author.{{cite news|first=Jonathan|last=Franzen|url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/1996/04/0007955|title=Perchance to dream: In the age of images, a reason to write novels|work=Harper's|year=1996|access-date=April 15, 2011|archive-date=June 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608132005/http://www.harpers.org/archive/1996/04/0007955|url-status=live}}

In 2002, Franzen published a critique of the novels of William Gaddis, entitled "Mr. Difficult", in The New Yorker. He begins by recounting how some readers felt The Corrections was spoiled by being too high-brow in parts, and summarizes his own views of reading difficult fiction. He proposes a "Status model", whereby the point of fiction is to be Art, and also a "Contract model", whereby the point of fiction is to be Entertainment, and finds that he subscribes to both models. He praises The Recognitions, admits that he only got halfway through J R, and explains why he does not like the rest of Gaddis's novels.{{cite magazine|first=Jonathan|last=Franzen|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/09/30/020930fa_fact_franzen|title=Mr. Difficult|magazine=The New Yorker|year=2002|access-date=April 16, 2020|archive-date=June 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608012517/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/09/30/020930fa_fact_franzen|url-status=live}}

In 2004, Franzen published "The Discomfort Zone", a personal essay about his childhood and family life in Missouri and his love of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, in The New Yorker. Susan Orlean selected it for the subsequent volume of The Best American Essays.{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Lisa |url=http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/print/html?reqURI=/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/180039.html |title=Resources for Graphic Novels |work=AP Central |access-date=October 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083624/http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/print/html?reqURI=%2Fapc%2Fmembers%2Fcourses%2Fteachers_corner%2F180039.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?195398-5/discomfort-zone-personal-history Presentation by Franzen on The Discomfort Zone at the Miami Book Fair International, November 18, 2006], C-SPAN}}

Since The Corrections Franzen has published How to Be Alone (2002), a collection of essays including "Perchance To Dream", and The Discomfort Zone (2006), a memoir. How To Be Alone is essentially an apologia for reading, articulating Franzen's uncomfortable relationship with the place of fiction in contemporary society. It also probes the influence of his childhood and adolescence on his creative life, which is then further explored in The Discomfort Zone.

In September 2007, Franzen's translation of Frank Wedekind's play Spring Awakening ({{langx|de|link=no|Frühlings Erwachen}}) was published. In his introduction, Franzen describes the Broadway musical version as "insipid" and "overpraised." In an interview with New York magazine, Franzen stated that he had in fact made the translation for Swarthmore College's theater department for $50 in 1986 and that it had sat in a drawer for 20 years since. After the Broadway show stirred up so much interest, Franzen said he was inspired to publish it because "I knew it was a good translation, better than anything else out there."{{cite news|url=https://nymag.com/arts/books/features/37214/|title=Q&A With 'Spring Awakening: A Play' Translator Jonathan Franzen|date=September 10, 2007|access-date=January 21, 2009|archive-date=August 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811112018/https://nymag.com/arts/books/features/37214/|url-status=live}}

Franzen published a social commentary on cell phones, sentimentality, and the decline of public space, "I Just Called To Say I Love You" (2008),{{cite news|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21173/?a=f|title=I Just Called to Say I Love You|date=September 2008|work=Technology Review|access-date=December 1, 2010|archive-date=September 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919100651/http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/21173/?a=f}} in the September/October 2008 issue of MIT Technology Review.

In 2012 he published Farther Away, a collection of essays dealing with such topics as his love of birds, his friendship with David Foster Wallace, and his thoughts on technology.{{cite news|last=Lopate|first=Phillip|title=Manageable Discontents|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/books/review/farther-away-essays-by-jonathan-franzen.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=July 18, 2012|date=May 18, 2012|archive-date=September 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929082955/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/books/review/farther-away-essays-by-jonathan-franzen.html?pagewanted=all|url-status=live}}

In 2013, Franzen published The Kraus Project. It consists of three major essays by the "Perennially ... impossible to translate"{{cite web|url=http://www.melleragency.com/shared/detail.php?id=24916|title=Michael Meller Literary Agency|work=melleragency.com|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104185754/http://www.melleragency.com/shared/detail.php?id=24916|archive-date=November 4, 2014}} Austrian "playwright, poet, social commentator and satirical genius" Karl Kraus – "Heine and the Consequences" a takedown of the beloved German poet, "Nestroy and Posterity" which established that playwright's reputation in Austria to this day, and "Afterword to Heine and the Consequences"". The essays are accompanied by "Franzen's [own] plentiful, trenchant yet off-beat annotations" taking on "... Kraus' mantle-commenting on what Kraus would say (and what Franzen's opinion is) about Macs and PCs; decrying Twitter's claim of credit for the Arab Spring; and unfurling how media conglomerates influence politics in their quest for profits."

Franzen published his third essay collection, The End of the End of the Earth: Essays, in November 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://us.macmillan.com/theendoftheendoftheearth/jonathanfranzen/9780374147938/|title=The End of the End of the Earth | Jonathan Franzen | Macmillan|access-date=January 27, 2018|archive-date=January 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128190421/https://us.macmillan.com/theendoftheendoftheearth/jonathanfranzen/9780374147938/|url-status=live}} According to advance press for the book, the collection "gathers essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, [and] Jonathan Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes—both human and literary—that have long preoccupied him. Whether exploring his complex relationship with his uncle, recounting his young adulthood in New York, or offering an illuminating look at the global seabird crisis, these pieces contain all the wit and disabused realism that we've come to expect from Franzen.

Taken together, these essays trace the progress of a unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day, made more pressing by the current political milieu. The End of the End of the Earth is remarkable, provocative, and necessary."

In September 2019, Franzen published an essay on climate change in The New Yorker entitled "What If We Stopped Pretending?",{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending|title=What if We Stopped Pretending the Climate Apocalypse Can Be Stopped?|last=Franzen|first=Jonathan|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 8, 2019|access-date=December 30, 2019|language=en|issn=0028-792X|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115013836/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending|url-status=live}} which generated controversy among scientists and online pundits because of its alleged pessimism.{{Cite web|url=https://www.popsci.com/climate-change-new-yorker-franzen-corrections/|title=Can we still prevent an apocalypse? What Jonathan Franzen gets wrong about climate change|website=Popular Science|date=September 11, 2019|language=en|access-date=December 30, 2019|archive-date=December 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230041907/https://www.popsci.com/climate-change-new-yorker-franzen-corrections/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-blast-jonathan-franzens-climate-doomist-new-yorker-op-ed-2019-9|title=Scientists blast Jonathan Franzen's 'climate doomist' opinion column as 'the worst piece on climate change'|last=Rogers|first=Taylor Nicole|website=Business Insider|access-date=December 30, 2019|archive-date=December 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212140333/https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-blast-jonathan-franzens-climate-doomist-new-yorker-op-ed-2019-9|url-status=live}} The term doomerism became popular amid the response to the piece.{{cite news |last1=Purtill |first1=James |title=Breaking up over climate change: My deep dark journey into doomer Facebook |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=November 7, 2019 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/breaking-up-over-climate-change-my-journey-into-doomer-facebook/11678736 |access-date=October 23, 2021 |archive-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304121143/https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/breaking-up-over-climate-change-my-journey-into-doomer-facebook/11678736 |url-status=live }} A Sierra Club interview with Franzen, from January 2019 further explores Franzen's feelings about climate change and action.{{Cite web |last=Renner |first=Serena |title=Jonathan Franzen's Controversial Stance on Climate Action |date=January 7, 2019 |website=Sierra |publisher=Sierra Club |url=https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/jonathan-franzens-controversial-stance-climate-action |access-date=December 30, 2019 |archive-date=December 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230041853/https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/jonathan-franzens-controversial-stance-climate-action |url-status=live }}{{Example needed|date=October 2021}}

In an interview with Transatlantica conducted in March 2018, Franzen mentioned that he had just started work on a new novel, having recently sold it to publishers on the basis of a three-page proposal.{{Cite journal|last=Potier|first=Jérémy|date=November 29, 2018|title=An Interview with Jonathan Franzen|url=https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/8943|journal=Transatlantica. Revue d'études américaines. American Studies Journal|language=en|issue=1|doi=10.4000/transatlantica.8943|issn=1765-2766|access-date=April 24, 2020|archive-date=June 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611162200/https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/8943|url-status=live|doi-access=free}} Later that year, in a profile piece for The New York Times Magazine in June 2018, Franzen confirmed that he was currently at work on the early stages of his sixth novel, which he speculated could be his last. "So, I may be wrong ... But somehow this new one really does feel like my last.". Subsequently, in an interview reproduced on The Millions website in April 2020, Franzen mentioned that he was "almost done" with writing this sixth novel.{{Cite web|date=April 23, 2020|title=Giving Voice to Shame and Fear: The Millions Interviews Jonathan Franzen|url=https://themillions.com/2020/04/giving-voice-to-shame-and-fear-the-millions-interviews-jonathan-franzen.html|access-date=March 5, 2023|website=The Millions|language=en-US|archive-date=April 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426164029/https://themillions.com/2020/04/giving-voice-to-shame-and-fear-the-millions-interviews-jonathan-franzen.html|url-status=live |last=Qian |first=Jianan}} Crossroads: A Novel was published on October 5, 2021.

File:Jonathan Franzen 2011 Shankbone.jpg awards]]

In February 2010, Franzen (along with writers such as Richard Ford, Margaret Atwood, and Anne Enright) was asked by The Guardian to contribute what he believed were ten serious rules to abide by for aspiring writers. His rules included treating the reader as a friend, and avoiding the Internet.{{cite news|first1=Geoff |last1=Dyer |first2=David |last2=Hare |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one |title=Ten rules for writing fiction |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=February 20, 2010 |access-date=March 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001023035/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one |archive-date=October 1, 2013 }}

In 1982, when in his early twenties, Franzen married fellow writer Valerie Cornell.{{cite news |last=Brockes |first=Emma |date=August 21, 2015 |title=Jonathan Franzen interview: 'There is no way to make myself not male' |language=en-US |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/aug/21/jonathan-franzen-purity-interview |url-status=live |access-date=November 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113185855/https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/aug/21/jonathan-franzen-purity-interview |archive-date=November 13, 2019}} They lived in New York City and were married for fourteen years. His marriage and divorce are mentioned in some of his essays in the collection Farther Away.

Franzen lives in Santa Cruz, California, with his "spouse-equivalent",{{Cite news |last=Barney |first=Chuck |date=April 20, 2016 |title=Acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen embraces television |language=en-US |work=The Mercury News |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/20/acclaimed-author-jonathan-franzen-embraces-television/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710071315/https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/20/acclaimed-author-jonathan-franzen-embraces-television/ |archive-date=July 10, 2018}} writer Kathy Chetkovich.{{cite web |last=Chotiner |first=Isaac |date=July 31, 2016 |title=Jonathan Franzen on Fame, Fascism, and Why He Won't Write a Book About Race |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2016/07/a_conversation_with_novelist_jonathan_franzen.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626221107/http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2016/07/a_conversation_with_novelist_jonathan_franzen.html |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |access-date=June 3, 2015 |work=Slate}}

As first reported in his essay "My Bird Problem,"{{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |date=August 8, 2005 |title=My Bird Problem |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/08/08/my-bird-problem |url-status=live |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |page=52 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710102001/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/08/08/my-bird-problem |archive-date=July 10, 2018 |access-date=July 10, 2018}} Franzen is well known as a serious birdwatcher.{{Cite news |last=Hartigan |first=Rachel |date=June 17, 2013 |title=Why Novelist Jonathan Franzen Loves Birds |work=National Geographic |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/130617-jonathan-franzen-bird-watching-conservation |url-status=dead |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710101941/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130617-jonathan-franzen-bird-watching-conservation/ |archive-date=July 10, 2018}} He appeared on CBS Sunday Morning in March 2018 to discuss his love of birds and birdwatching.{{Cite news |date=17 March 2018 |title=How Jonathan Franzen fell in love with birds |work=CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-author-jonathan-franzen-fell-in-love-with-birds-and-protecting-them/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710110610/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-author-jonathan-franzen-fell-in-love-with-birds-and-protecting-them/ |archive-date=July 10, 2018}}{{Cite news |last=Dana |first=Rebecca |date=July 13, 2012 |title='The Central Park Effect' Explores the Magical Power of Birding |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/13/the-central-park-effect-explores-the-magical-power-of-birding |url-status=live |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305153553/https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-central-park-effect-explores-the-magical-power-of-birding |archive-date=March 5, 2023}} Franzen served for nine years on the board of the American Bird Conservancy.{{Cite news |date=May 30, 2017 |title=Farewell to ABC's George and Rita Fenwick {{!}} American Bird Conservancy |language=en-US |work=American Bird Conservancy |url=https://abcbirds.org/farewell-fenwicks/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930061018/https://abcbirds.org/farewell-fenwicks/ |archive-date=September 30, 2020}} A feature-length documentary based on Franzen's essay "Emptying the Skies" was released in 2013.{{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |date=July 19, 2010 |title=Emptying the Skies |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/07/26/emptying-the-skies |url-status=live |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710102004/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/07/26/emptying-the-skies |archive-date=July 10, 2018 |access-date=July 10, 2018}}{{Cite web |title=Emptying the Skies |url=https://www.musicboxfilms.com/emptying-the-skies-movies-114.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624070920/https://www.musicboxfilms.com/emptying-the-skies-movies-114.php |archive-date=June 24, 2018 |access-date=July 10, 2018 |website=Music Box Films}}

Franzen is a longtime fan of the punk-rock collective The Mekons; he appeared in the 2014 documentary Revenge of the Mekons to discuss the group's importance to him.{{Cite news |last1=Kenigsberg |first1=Ben |date=October 28, 2014 |title=Far-Flung, Long-Lasting and Still Punk at the Core |language=en |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/movies/revenge-of-the-mekons-tells-the-story-of-a-rock-band.html |url-status=live |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627102634/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/movies/revenge-of-the-mekons-tells-the-story-of-a-rock-band.html |archive-date=June 27, 2018}}

In 2010, at an event at the Serpentine Pavilion in London celebrating the launch of Freedom, Franzen's glasses were stolen from his face by a gate-crasher, who jokingly attempted to ransom them for $100,000 before being apprehended by police elsewhere in Hyde Park.{{cite news |last=Neill |first=Graeme |date=October 5, 2010 |title=Franzen's glasses stolen at launch |work=The Bookseller |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/130183-franzens-glasses-stolen-at-launch.html.rss |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010124120/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/130183-franzens-glasses-stolen-at-launch.html.rss |archive-date=October 10, 2010}}{{cite news |last=Armitstead |first=Claire |date=October 5, 2010 |title=Who stole Jonathan Franzen's glasses? |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/05/who-stole-jonathan-franzens-glasses |url-status=live |access-date=December 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118081016/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/05/who-stole-jonathan-franzens-glasses |archive-date=January 18, 2017}}{{cite news |last=Fletcher |first=James |date=29 March 2012 |title=Why I stole Franzen's glasses |work=GQ |url=http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2010-10/06/gq-books-jonathan-franzen-glasses-thief-interview |url-status=live |access-date=October 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010042151/http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/comment/articles/2010-10/06/gq-books-jonathan-franzen-glasses-thief-interview |archive-date=October 10, 2010}}

• 1981 Fulbright Scholarship to Germany{{cite web |title=Jonathan Franzen – Fulbright Student to Germany, 1981 |url=https://eca.state.gov:443/fulbright/video/jonathan-franzen-fulbright-student-germany-1981/transcript |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218030908/http://eca.state.gov/fulbright/video/jonathan-franzen-fulbright-student-germany-1981/transcript |archive-date=December 18, 2012 |access-date=June 3, 2015 |work=state.gov}}
• 1988 Whiting Award
• 1996 Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2000 Berlin Prize (American Academy in Berlin)
• 2012 Carlos Fuentes Medal{{cite news |author=Alejandro Alvarado |date=November 25, 2012 |title=Dan medalla Carlos Fuentes a Franzen |trans-title=Carlos Fuentes medal given to Franzen |url=http://www.reforma.com/cultura/articulo/680/1359484/?Titulo=dan-medalla-carlos-fuentes-a-franzen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305153518/https://www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/preacceso/articulo/default.aspx?__rval=1&urlredirect=https://www.reforma.com/cultura/articulo/680/1359484/?Titulo=dan-medalla-carlos-fuentes-a-franzen&referer=--7d616165662f3a3a6262623b6770737a6778743b767a783a-- |archive-date=March 5, 2023 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |newspaper=Reforma.com |publisher=Grupo Reforma |language=es}} (Inaugural award)
• 2015 Budapest Grand Prize{{cite web |title=22nd International Book Festival Budapest |url=http://www.konyvfesztival.com/2015/kozonsegnek/index_angol.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411021042/http://www.konyvfesztival.com/2015/kozonsegnek/index_angol.html |archive-date=April 11, 2015 |access-date=June 3, 2015 |work=konyvfesztival.com}}
• 2015 Euronatur Award for outstanding commitment to nature conservation in Europe{{cite web |date=December 27, 2017 |title=Euronatur Award |url=https://www.euronatur.org/en/what-we-do/campaigns-and-initiatives/euronatur-award/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228000219/https://www.euronatur.org/en/what-we-do/campaigns-and-initiatives/euronatur-award/ |archive-date=December 28, 2017 |access-date=December 27, 2017 |work=euronatur.org}}
• 2017 Frank Schirrmacher Preis{{Cite news |last=Sedlmaier |first=Tobias |date=May 10, 2017 |title=Jonathan Franzen ausgezeichnet {{!}} NZZ |url=https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/frank-schirrmacher-preis-jonathan-franzen-ausgezeichnet-ld.1291312 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624040222/https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/frank-schirrmacher-preis-jonathan-franzen-ausgezeichnet-ld.1291312 |archive-date=June 24, 2018 |access-date=June 23, 2018 |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |language=de-CH |issn=0376-6829}}
• 2022 Thomas Mann Prize{{cite web |date=June 10, 2022 |title=Thomas-Mann-Preis 2022 geht an US-Erzähler Franzen |url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/literatur-luebeck-thomas-mann-preis-2022-geht-an-us-erzaehler-franzen-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-220610-99-618867 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610183234/https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/literatur-luebeck-thomas-mann-preis-2022-geht-an-us-erzaehler-franzen-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-220610-99-618867 |archive-date=June 10, 2022 |access-date=June 10, 2022 |website=Süddeutsche.de |language=de |agency=dpa}}

• 2010 Galaxy National Book Awards, International Author of the Year, Freedom{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalbookawards.co.uk/international-author-of-the-year/|title=International Author of the Year|work=National Book Awards 2014|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216032108/http://www.nationalbookawards.co.uk/international-author-of-the-year/|archive-date=December 16, 2012}}
• 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Fiction) finalist (for Freedom)
• 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (for Freedom)
• 2010 Salon Book Award (Fiction) for Freedom
• 2011 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Freedom{{Cite web|url=https://chicagohumanities.org/events/2011/tech-knowledge/2011-chicago-tribune-heartland-prize-winners|title=2011 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize Winners {{!}} Jonathan Franzen {{!}} Isabel Wilkerson {{!}} Chicago Humanities Festival|website=chicagohumanities.org|language=en|access-date=July 12, 2018|archive-date=July 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712053352/https://chicagohumanities.org/events/2011/tech-knowledge/2011-chicago-tribune-heartland-prize-winners|url-status=live}}
• 2011 John Gardner Award (Fiction) for Freedom{{Cite web|url=https://www.binghamton.edu/english/creative-writing/binghamton-center-for-writers/gardner-past-award-winners.html|title=John Gardner Fiction Book Award Past Winners - English, General Literature and Rhetoric {{!}} Binghamton University|website=English, General Literature and Rhetoric - Binghamton University|language=en-US|access-date=July 12, 2018|archive-date=July 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712053711/https://www.binghamton.edu/english/creative-writing/binghamton-center-for-writers/gardner-past-award-winners.html|url-status=live}}
• 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism) shortlist for The Kraus Project{{cite web |date=January 14, 2014 |title=Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013 |url=http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/announcing-the-national-book-critics-awards-finalists |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115014055/http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/announcing-the-national-book-critics-awards-finalists |archive-date=January 15, 2014 |access-date=January 14, 2014 |publisher=National Book Critics Circle}}

Honors and other recognition

• 1996 Granta's Best of Young American Novelists
• 2001 Oprah's Book Club Selection (for The Corrections)
• 2001 The New York Times Best Books of the Year for The Corrections
• 2009 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Visitor American Academy in Berlin
• 2010 Oprah's Book Club selection (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){{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/books/review/10-best-books-of-2010.html|title=The 10 Best Books of 2010|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 2010|access-date=June 23, 2018|language=en|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208064918/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/books/review/10-best-books-of-2010.html|url-status=live}}
• 2010 Elected to the Akademie der Kunste, Berlin{{Cite news|url=https://www.adk.de/de/akademie/mitglieder/?we_objectID=55154|title=Franzen|access-date=June 23, 2018|language=de-DE|archive-date=June 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624035707/https://www.adk.de/de/akademie/mitglieder/?we_objectID=55154|url-status=live}}
• 2011 Named one of Time's Time 100{{Cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066105,00.html|title=The 2011 TIME 100 - TIME|last=Lewis|first=Michael|date=April 21, 2011|magazine=Time|access-date=June 23, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0040-781X|archive-date=July 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709000430/http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367_2066369_2066105,00.html|url-status=live}}
• 2012 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters{{cite news | url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/franzen-chabon-and-lahiri-named-to-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-letters/ | work=The New York Times | first=Jennifer | last=Schuessler | title=Franzen, Chabon and Lahiri Named to the American Academy of Arts and Letters | date=March 9, 2012 | access-date=December 3, 2012 | archive-date=July 24, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724165818/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/franzen-chabon-and-lahiri-named-to-the-american-academy-of-arts-and-letters/ | url-status=live }}
• 2012 Elected to the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• 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".{{cite news|first=Lucy|last=Siegle|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jan/16/green-power-list-top-20|title=Green giants: the eco power list|work=The Observer|location=London|date=January 16, 2011|access-date=December 11, 2016|archive-date=December 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229025305/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jan/16/green-power-list-top-20|url-status=live}}
• On May 21, 2011, Franzen delivered the commencement address at Kenyon College to the class of 2011.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/oh-the-places-youll-go-jonathan-franzen-at-kenyon|title=Oh the Places You'll Go: Jonathan Franzen at Kenyon|date=June 10, 2011|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-date=August 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824042127/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/oh-the-places-youll-go-jonathan-franzen-at-kenyon|url-status=live}}
• On June 16, 2012, Franzen delivered the commencement address at Cowell College, UC Santa Cruz{{cite web| url=https://cowell.ucsc.edu/news-events/2011-12/grad-2012-franzen.html| access-date=June 3, 2015| title=Cowell Commencement 2012 Keynote Speaker: Jonathan Franzen| archive-date=December 3, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203053715/https://cowell.ucsc.edu/news-events/2011-12/grad-2012-franzen.html| url-status=live}}
• 2013 Welt-Literaturpreis{{cite news |author=Richard Kämmerlings |date=October 4, 2013 |title=Jonathan Franzen erhält den "Welt"-Literaturpreis |url=https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article120638234/Jonathan-Franzen-erhaelt-den-Welt-Literaturpreis.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927202734/https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article120638234/Jonathan-Franzen-erhaelt-den-Welt-Literaturpreis.html |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |access-date=October 6, 2013 |work=Die Welt}}
• The first international academic symposium solely dedicated to Franzen's work took place at Glasgow University, UK, March 22, 2013.{{cite web|url=http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/50190|title=Jonathan Franzen and Contemporary Realisms Friday 22nd March – cfp.english.upenn.edu|work=upenn.edu|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042923/http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/50190|url-status=live}} Another one, "Jonathan Franzen: Identity and Crisis of the American Novel", was scheduled to take place at the University of Córdoba, Spain, April 18–19, 2013.{{cite web|url=http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/46135|title=Jonathan Franzen. International Symposium. Córdoba, Spain, April 2013 – cfp.english.upenn.edu|work=upenn.edu|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-date=October 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141016053346/http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/46135|url-status=live}}

{{Incomplete list|date=November 2014}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

• {{cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=The Twenty–Seventh City |location=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=1988}}
• {{cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=Strong Motion |location=New York |author-mask=1 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=1992}}
• {{cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=The Corrections |location=New York |author-mask=1 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2001}}
• {{cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=Freedom |location=New York |author-mask=1 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2010}}
• {{cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=Purity |location=New York |author-mask=1 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2015}}
• {{cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=Crossroads |location=New York |author-mask=1 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2021}}

• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |date=1987 |title=Facts |magazine=Fiction International |volume=17 |issue=1}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=1991 |title=Argilla Road |magazine=Grand Street |issue=39 |pages=180–208 |doi=10.2307/25007495 |jstor=25007495}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=1992 |title=Somewhere North of Wilmington |magazine=Blind Spot |issue=8 |pages=116}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=1996 |title=How He Came to be Nowhere |url=https://granta.com/how-he-came-to-be-nowhere/ |magazine=Granta |volume=54 |pages=111–123}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=1996 |title=Chez Lambert |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/1401/chez-lambert-jonathan-franzen |magazine=The Paris Review |issue=139 |pages=29–41}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=1998 |title=On the Nordic Pleasurelines Fall Color Cruise |journal=Conjunctions |volume=30 |pages=333–341 |jstor=24515848 |issue=30}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=July 5, 1999 |title=The Failure |url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1999-07-05#folio=068 |journal=The New Yorker}}
• {{Cite magazine|last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=1999 |title=At the Party for the Artists with No Last Name |magazine=Blind Spot |issue=14}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=April 2000 |title=The Fall |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2000/04/the-fall/ |magazine=Harper's Magazine}}
• {{Cite news |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=March 25, 2003 |title=When the new wing broke away from the old mansion |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/25/fiction.originalwriting}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=November 8, 2004 |title=Breakup Stories |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/11/08/breakup-stories |journal=The New Yorker |pages=85–99}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=May 23, 2005 |title=Two's Company |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/05/23/twos-company-2 |journal=The New Yorker |pages=78–81}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=June 8, 2009 |title=Good Neighbors |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/08/good-neighbors |journal=The New Yorker}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=May 31, 2010 |title=Agreeable |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/05/31/agreeable |journal=The New Yorker}}
• {{Cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=Spring 2011 |title=Ambition |url= |magazine=Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern |issue=37 |isbn=978-1-934781-86-9}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=June 8, 2015 |title=The Republic of Bad Taste |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/08/the-republic-of-bad-taste |journal=The New Yorker}}

• {{Cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=How to Be Alone |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2002 |isbn=0-374-17327-3 |location=New York}} Essays.
• {{Cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |title=The Discomfort Zone |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2006 |isbn=0-374-29919-6 |location=New York}} Memoir.
• {{Cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |title=Farther Away |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-374-15357-1 |location=New York}} Essays.
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=February 13–20, 2012 |title=A Rooting Interest |volume=88 |issue=1 |pages=60–65 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/02/13/a-rooting-interest |journal=The New Yorker}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=April 6, 2015 |title=Carbon Capture: Has climate change made it harder for people to care about conservation? |department=Dept. of the Environment |journal=The New Yorker |volume=91 |issue=7 |pages=56–65 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/06/carbon-capture }}Online version is titled "Climate change vs. conservation".
• {{Cite book |editor-last=Franzen |editor-first=Jonathan |editor-mask=1 |title=The Best American Essays 2016 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |date=2016 |isbn=9780544812109}} Guest editor.
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=May 23, 2016 |title=The End of the End of the World |department=Our Far–Flung Correspondents |journal=The New Yorker |volume=92 |issue=15 |pages=44–55 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/23/jonathan-franzen-goes-to-antarctica}}
• {{Cite book |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |title=The End of the End of the Earth: Essays |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |date=2018 |isbn=9780374147938 |location=New York |author-mask=1}} Essays.
• {{cite magazine |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=January 2018 |title=Why Birds Matter |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/01/why-birds-matter/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103135553/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/01/why-birds-matter/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 3, 2018 |magazine=National Geographic |volume=233 |issue=1 |pages=32–43}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Franzen |first=Jonathan |author-mask=1 |date=September 8, 2019 |title=What If We Stopped Pretending? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending |journal=The New Yorker}}

• Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind 2007
• The Kraus Project (essays by Karl Kraus translated and annotated by Franzen) 2013
• The Short End of Sonnenallee with Jenny Watson by Thomas Brussig

• {{cite book |last=Burn |first=Stephen |title=Jonathan Franzen at the end of postmodernism |publisher=Continuum Books |date=2008 }}

;Crossroads

• {{cite journal |author=Schulz, Kathryn |author-link=Kathryn Schulz |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Good times : in Jonathan Franzen's 'Crossroads,' a minister and his family confront a crisis of faith—not in God but in one another |department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=31 |pages=62–68 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/04/the-church-of-jonathan-franzen }}Online version is titled "The church of Jonathan Franzen".

———————

;Notes

{{reflist|40em|group=lower-alpha}}

• In 1996, Franzen appeared on Charlie Rose with friend and fellow author David Foster Wallace and author Mark Leyner to debate "The Future of American Fiction."{{Citation|title=Future of American Fiction - Charlie Rose|url=https://charlierose.com/videos/15361|language=en-US|access-date=July 14, 2018|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714110924/https://charlierose.com/videos/15361|url-status=live}}
• In 2001, Franzen appeared on Charlie Rose, on November 21, 2001{{Citation|title=Jonathan Franzen - Charlie Rose|url=https://charlierose.com/videos/19970|language=en-US|access-date=July 14, 2018|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714081246/https://charlierose.com/videos/19970|url-status=live}} to discuss The Corrections; and again on December 27{{Citation|title=Jonathan Franzen; Jennifer Egan - Charlie Rose|url=https://charlierose.com/videos/27495|language=en-US|access-date=July 14, 2018|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714080909/https://charlierose.com/videos/27495|url-status=live}} after winning the National Book Award for The Corrections.
• In 2002, Franzen appeared on Charlie Rose (October 30, 2002{{Citation|title=Jonathan Franzen - Charlie Rose|url=https://charlierose.com/videos/666|language=en-US|access-date=July 14, 2018|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714080631/https://charlierose.com/videos/666|url-status=live}}) to discuss his essay collection How to Be Alone.
• In 2006, Franzen guest starred alongside Michael Chabon, Tom Wolfe, and Gore Vidal in The Simpsons episode "Moe'N'a Lisa", which first aired November 19, 2006. In the episode, he is depicted fighting over literary influences with Chabon.{{cite news|first=Steven|last=Barrie-Anthony|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/30/entertainment/et-simpsons30/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206190226/http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov/30/entertainment/et-simpsons30|archive-date=December 6, 2008|title=The call of 'D'oh!'|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 30, 2005|access-date=September 10, 2010|quote=The script calls for Chabon and Franzen to brawl during a dispute about their literary influences, and standing next to each other in the recording room, the friends ready themselves for a fight. Franzen complains loudly that he has fewer lines than Chabon – "Only 38 words!" – to which Chabon responds, "I see there's a little counting going on in the Franzenian corner."}}
• In 2010, Franzen appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in support of her selection of Freedom for Oprah's Book Club. Several viewers noted the brevity of Franzen's appearance on the show,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/franzen-meets-oprah|title=Franzen Meets Oprah|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=July 14, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714081204/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/franzen-meets-oprah|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2010/12/07/jonathan_franzen_appears_on_oprahs_book_club.html|title=The Franzen and Oprah Show|last=Julian|first=Kate|date=December 7, 2010|work=Slate|access-date=July 14, 2018|language=en-US|issn=1091-2339|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714082340/http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2010/12/07/jonathan_franzen_appears_on_oprahs_book_club.html|url-status=live}} although a thirty-minute "After the Show" Q&A was later made available online.{{Cite news|url=http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/after-the-show-with-jonathan-franzen-and-freedom-video|title=After the Show with Jonathan Franzen and Freedom|work=Oprah.com|access-date=July 14, 2018|language=en-us|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714080705/http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/after-the-show-with-jonathan-franzen-and-freedom-video|url-status=live}}
• In 2015, Franzen appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-jonathan-franzen-stephen-colbert-bedtime-story-20151029-story.html|title=Jonathan Franzen tells Stephen Colbert a bedtime story|last=Kellogg|first=Carolyn|website=Los Angeles Times|date=October 29, 2015|access-date=July 12, 2018|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808035411/https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-jonathan-franzen-stephen-colbert-bedtime-story-20151029-story.html|url-status=live}} and CBS This Morning{{Citation|title=Jonathan Franzen on new novel "Purity"|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/video/jonathan-franzen-on-new-novel-purity/|access-date=July 12, 2018|archive-date=July 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712053026/https://www.cbsnews.com/video/jonathan-franzen-on-new-novel-purity/|url-status=live}} to promote the release of Purity.
• In 2016, Franzen appeared on Jeopardy! as part of the show's Power Players Week, where journalists and intellectuals compete on the show with winnings donated to the player's charity of choice—Franzen played for the American Bird Conservancy.{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4338360/jonathan-franzen-jeopardy/|title=Jonathan Franzen's Appearance on Jeopardy! Was Perfect TV|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=July 12, 2018|archive-date=April 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430080912/http://time.com/4338360/jonathan-franzen-jeopardy/|url-status=live}} Franzen also appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers.{{Citation|title=Jonah Hill, Jonathan Franzen, Gallant|date=August 4, 2016|url=https://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/video/jonah-hill-jonathan-franzen-gallant/3075168|access-date=July 14, 2018|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714080825/https://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/video/jonah-hill-jonathan-franzen-gallant/3075168|url-status=live}}
• In 2018, Franzen appeared on CBS This Morning – Saturday to discuss his love of birds and birdwatching.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-author-jonathan-franzen-fell-in-love-with-birds-and-protecting-them/|title=How Jonathan Franzen fell in love with birds|access-date=July 12, 2018|language=en|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710110610/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-author-jonathan-franzen-fell-in-love-with-birds-and-protecting-them/|url-status=live}}

{{Reflist}}

• Burn, Stephen J. Jonathan Franzen at the End of Postmodernism. London/New York 2011.
• Freitag, Sibylle. The Return of the Real in the Works of Jonathan Franzen. Essen (Germany) 2009.
• Miceli, Barbara. "A cancer on the planet": Mountaintop Removal and Environmental Crime in Jonathan Franzen's Freedom" in Forum Filologiczne Ateneum 1(7) 2019, pp. 343–356.
• Weinstein, Philip. Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage. Bloomsbury, 2015.

{{Commons}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{Official website|https://www.jonathanfranzen.com|Jonathan Franzen}} – official site
• [https://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/2010/1101100823_400.jpg Jonathan Franzen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215165056/https://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/2010/1101100823_400.jpg |date=December 15, 2022 }} on the cover of Time magazine
• [https://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_jfranzen.html Jonathan Franzen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240828164534/https://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_jfranzen.html |date=August 28, 2024 }} acceptance speech following National Book Award win
• {{C-SPAN|91629}}

{{Jonathan Franzen}}

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