Franzen, Freedom, and video

August 16, 2010 7:10 PM

Jonathan Franzen makes a video partially about why he doesn't like making videos.
posted by anothermug (11 comments total)

he doesn't describe his new book much
NYT had a good review, though
posted by angrycat at 7:51 PM on August 16, 2010

So, if we're going to talk about Franzen and his various issues concerning the media and publicity, we need to recall his 2001 run-in with Oprah -- where he basically rejected Oprah's endorsement -- and perhaps also note that he is now on the cover of the current issue of Time magazine. Clearly, the guy has some conflicted feelings about the whole popular success thing.
posted by Mid at 8:15 PM on August 16, 2010

I wish he'd not write any more novels about why he likes to write novels.
posted by blucevalo at 8:20 PM on August 16, 2010

Oh, oh, Jonathan Franzen. I thought we were talking about Jonathan Frakes and I was kind of confused.
posted by kbanas at 8:25 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]

I'm going to have to read at least one of this man's works, as the Wikipedia descriptions sound interesting. His discomfort with the video format is palpable. It's a shame that content creators have to do the monkey-dance now. Videos: you can't read them. You can't skim them. They make noise. Rarely do we have a transcript.

Good on him.
posted by adipocere at 8:34 PM on August 16, 2010

Yes, but isn't he kind of a baby? He's making millions of dollars selling very accessible/deliberatley middle-brow books to a mass market -- why all the hand-wringing?
posted by Mid at 9:02 PM on August 16, 2010

Well, if you think a video about how making videos is 'uncomfortable' is interesting, you ought to give a gander to Hegel's preface (to Phenomenology of Spirit) which starts with a discussion about why prefaces to philosophical works are totally pointless and unnecessary.
posted by koeselitz at 10:06 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

And then, you know. Don't forget to read it in French, because in Eenglish it is nossing.
posted by Wolof at 12:56 AM on August 17, 2010

When Bennett Cerf tried to convince William Faulkner to do a second Time cover, 15 years after his first, Faulkner asked for an estimate on how much it would add to Random House’s bottom line so that he could simply reimburse the publisher.
posted by xod at 7:41 AM on August 17, 2010 [3 favorites]

He remains one of the world's most talented narcissists.
posted by bearwife at 9:52 AM on August 17, 2010

christ, what an asshole.
posted by geekhorde at 3:39 PM on August 17, 2010