Novelist Franzen to discuss award-winning work as part of University Lectures series
Jonathan Franzen, writer for The New Yorker, will discuss creative writing and writing about society with students Tuesday night as part of the University Lecture Series.
Novelist and essayist Franzen was a 2002 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and has earned a National Book Award. Both honors recognized him for his satire work, ‘The Corrections.’ His most recent novel, ‘Freedom,’ is an Oprah Book Club selection and was chosen as one of The New York Times’ ’10 Best Books of 2010.’ In August 2010, Franzen was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
‘We try to find someone who is considered one of the best in their field,’ said Esther Gray, special assistant for academic affairs at Syracuse University. ‘We are indeed fortunate that his agent contacted Syracuse first and offered us the opportunity. We jumped at the chance.’
In his first novel, ‘The Corrections,’ and his latest piece, ‘Freedom,’ Franzen uses a satirical approach to depict how families function in society. The acclaimed novels are set during the time periods in which Franzen wrote them. ‘Freedom’ concludes as President Barack Obama’s presidency begins, making the story relevant for student readers today.
Franzen was most recently in the news for warning readers about the negative side of e-books in today’s culture, according to a Jan. 29 article in The Telegraph.
Dana Spiotta, an assistant English professor who will introduce Franzen at the lecture, said any students interested in writing should not miss Franzen’s visit.
‘This lecture is a rare opportunity to hear one of our major novelists discuss his writing process,’ she said.
Gray said bringing Franzen to campus is a special opportunity, as it is well known he does not accept engagements while he is working on a book. After ‘Freedom’ was released, he agreed to a few engagements, she said.
Said Gray: ‘How many of us can imagine writing a book? I certainly can’t, so the idea of climbing inside his head to hear how he does it, what he thinks about, is something I would think might be very interesting and intriguing to our students.’
Published on March 5, 2012 at 12:00 pm
