How Jonathan Franzen Learned to Write a Franzen Novel

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( the work of art [How Jonathan Franzen Learned to Write a Franzen Novel]( To finish The Corrections, he had to kill his protagonist — and his idea of what a book should be. Photo-Illustration: New York Magazine “Here it is: Description of a Struggle.” Jonathan Franzen hands me a journal he’s found in a bin, a record of his day-to-day entries from the summer of 1998. We are in a storage annex next to his office, which is Spartan. There’s a small desk, a guitar on a stand. The curtains are drawn — he writes in the dim light; he even wrote, famously for a time, blindfolded. The writing studio is adjacent to the house he has built in Santa Cruz, California, overlooking a protected ravine. We’ve spent the last few hours talking about the struggle that the journal documents, the writing of the novel The Corrections. The Corrections is much loved, by me and countless others. It was the book that taught Franzen how to write the novels that have made him that rare literary writer who is a best seller; that required a willful dramatic turn from his first two books; that featured a scorching battle with his own psyche; and that, as a consequence, was an almost decadelong agony to write. [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( to save over 40% on unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Yellowstone: [Cause of Death]( • Dune: Prophecy: [The Agony and the Ecstasy]( • The Franchise: [The Pitch]( • Somebody Somewhere: [The Joel Anderson Effect]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [How Wicked Felled Gladiator II at the Box Office Earlier this year, all indications pointed to Gladiator II being fall’s must-see movie. Here’s how the Roman combat epic lost its advantage.]( By Chris Lee [The Show That Won’t Eat Eyeballs Ahead of Yellowjackets’ third season, its creators hint at what’s lurking in the woods — and try to decide how gross is too gross.]( [Kendrick Lamar Sure Sounds Bitter “I cut my granny off if she don’t see it how I see it.”]( [The Gladiator II Line That Broke My Brain Historical accuracy in movies can be a strange, slippery thing, and the way we respond to it can be even stranger.]( By Bilge Ebiri [Every Sea-mergency on Doctor Odyssey Esteemed character actor Fred Melamed has pica, and you won’t believe the things he eats.]( By Rebecca Alter [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Movie Adaptations, Ranked MGM’s 1939 masterpiece is just too good.]( By Keith Phipps [Kim Deal on Her Coolest and Most Vulnerable Music ‘My life was not going great at that point, but I think the song is hilarious.’]( By Drew Fortune [Drake Has Moved On to Beefing With … Steve Lacy? What does “fragile opp” even mean?]( By Justin Curto [Nick Cave Is Still Recovering From That Bob Dylan Tweet On the freewheelin’ musician sneaking into his recent concert: “A lovely pulse of joy that penetrated my exhausted, zombied state.”]( By Devon Ivie [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Vulture Games [Today’s Crossword]( 15-Down, Four Letters: “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” streaming service Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images, Neil Mockford/WireImage, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic [Today’s Cinematrix]( Can you name an Ice Cube movie with a number in the title? Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Dimitrios Kambouris, Santiago Felipe), Marc Piasecki/WireImage A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race, for subscribers only. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe]( | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2024, All rights reserved