{"product_id":"9781501307171","title":"Jonathan Franzen The Comedy of Rage","description":"\u003ch1\u003eJonathan Franzen\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch2\u003eThe Comedy of Rage\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003ePhilip Weinstein\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eLiterary Criticism \/ American \/ General\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eJonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage\u003c\/i\u003e is the first critical biography of one of today's most important novelists. Drawing on unpublished emails and both published and private interviews, Philip Weinstein conveys the feel and heft of Franzen's voice as he ponders the purposes and problems of his life and art, from his earliest fiction to his most recent novel, \u003ci\u003ePurity\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFranzen's work raises major questions about the possibilities of contemporary fiction: how does one appeal to a wide audience of mainstream readers, on the one hand, while persuading connoisseurs, on the other, that one's fiction has staying power, is high art? More acutely, how did Franzen move from the rage that animates his first two novels to the more generous comic stance of the later novels on which his reputation rests?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWrestling with these questions, \u003ci\u003eJonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rag\u003c\/i\u003ee unpacks the becoming of Franzen as a person and a writer-from his ultra-sensitive Midwestern childhood, through his heady years at Swarthmore College, his marriage, and the alienating decade of the 1990s, up to his spectacular ascent and assimilation into pop culture as one of \u003ci\u003ethe \u003c\/i\u003eliterary figures of his generation. Weinstein joins biography and criticism in ways that fully respect their differences, but that also grant that the work comes, however unpredictably, out of the life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePhilip Weinstein\u003c\/b\u003e is the Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor of  English at Swarthmore College, USA. The recipient of several NEH  Fellowships and an ACLS Fellowship, and past President of the Faulkner Society, Weinstein has written books that range from  James to Faulkner and Morrison (in American literature), and from  Dickens through Joyce (in British literature). These include \u003ci\u003eFaulkner's Subject: A Cosmos No One Owns\u003c\/i\u003e (1992), \u003ci\u003eWhat Else But Love? The Ordeal of Race in Faulkner and Morrison\u003c\/i\u003e (1996), \u003ci\u003eUnknowing: The Work of Modernist Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e (2005). Weinstein's \u003ci\u003eBecoming Faulkner \u003c\/i\u003e(2010) was the recipient of the Hugh Holman Award for the best book written on Southern Literature. He is also the editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Cambridge Companion to William Faulkner\u003c\/i\u003e (1995).\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e22 October 2015\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781501307171\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e248\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e15.52\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51332050714764,"sku":"9781501307171","price":52.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_e3cdb09e-5263-4d72-8433-67984538d39d.jpg?v=1783601258","url":"https:\/\/fh90cf-fv.myshopify.com\/products\/9781501307171","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}