Jonathan Franzen – Sydney Opera House, September 13, 2011
(Working title: Franzen of the Opera)
A loose report of various things that may have been said at the talk.
It must be a huge burden to have people call you "America's greatest living novelist†or "one of America's greatest novelists†or "one of the greatest novelistsâ€. I say this entirely without irony because, after being given that title, what left is there for you to say? Anything will be an inevitable disappointment, and none of it will be your fault. This is only true if the title was bestowed upon you; if you gave it to yourself, you deserve whatever you have coming to you.
In having written some pretty good books, Jonathan Franzen accidentally painted himself into a corner. His American novels became metonymous for the American novel. This gave Australians free licence to ask Franzen to deconstruct his country for our entertainment and edification. He was able to do this to an extent, but the evening was best when Franzen was being specific: why he writes what he writes, and how it all comes to be. Discussing the act of writing and what informs it is far more interesting than a simple oration on the general state of the nation in which it was produced.