Farther Away

The new book of articles and opinion from Jonathan Franzen, author of ‘Freedom’ and ‘The Corrections’.

Jonathan Franzen’s ‘Freedom’ was the runaway most-discussed novel of 2010, an ambitious and searching engagement with life in America in the 21st century. Now, a new collection of Franzen’s non-fiction brings fresh demonstrations of his vivid, moral intelligence, confirming his status not only as a great American novelist but also as a master noticer, social critic, and self-investigator.

In Farther Away, which gathers together essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, the writer returns with renewed vigor to the themes, both human and literary, that have long preoccupied him. Whether recounting his violent encounter with bird poachers in Cyprus, examining his mixed feelings about the suicide of his friend and rival David Foster Wallace, or offering a moving and witty take on the ways that technology has changed how people express their love, these pieces deliver on Franzen’s implicit promise to conceal nothing from the reader. Taken together, these essays trace the progress of unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day. ‘Farther Away’ is remarkable, provocative, and necessary.

Reviews

‘Franzen’s words crackle with wit humour and wisdom’ Shortlist

‘Franzen is arguably America’s greatest living novelist … In this anthology of magazine assignments, social criticism and cobweb-clearing travel journalism, he writes continually about writing and reading, luxuriating in language and sticking up for literature for literature’s sake. It’s a mostly thrilling journey …Franzen’s meditations on literature form the meat of this collection …Though seemingly preoccupied with writing and literature, his essays travel many subjects and moods.’ Paul Clements, Daily Telegraph.

‘In a book that is never less than superbly intelligent…Franzen’s wit and loving kindness comes as abrupt surprises as if a glossy, paunchy bishop has suddenly started to play hopscotch.’ Richard Davernport-Hines, The Spectator

About the author

Jonathan Franzen was born in 1959 and graduated from Swarthmore College. He has lived in Boston, Spain, New York, Colorado Springs and Philadelphia. His other novels are ‘The Twenty-Seventh City’, ‘Strong Motion’, ‘The Corrections’ and ‘Freedom’. He is also the author of ‘How To Be Alone’, a collection of non-fiction, and ‘The Discomfort Zone’, a memoir. His fiction and non-fiction appear frequently in the ‘New Yorker’ and ‘Harper’s’, and he was named one of the best American novelists under forty by ‘Granta’ and the ‘New Yorker’. He lives in New York City.