--{ more on franzen }------
The Complete Review has this amazing article about the whole Franzen-Oprah thing. The article just great,1 and captured some of my own mixed feelings about the whole thing. (Though I should be doing work rather than reading it.) Some excerpts:
------
"In fact: there is nothing wrong with Franzen not feeling comfortable
appearing on Oprah and engaging with her audience. Maybe he feels unable
to do it. Maybe he just doesn't want to have anything to do with the
people who make up the bulk of Oprah's audience. Prissy elitism is -- or
can be -- a defensible position. And Oprah's Book Club shouldn't
necessarily be unquestioningly embraced: a healthy critical look at
Oprah's previous selections and the influence her selections have on, for
example, the publishing industry seems entirely warranted."
"The limitations of her selections do have consequences, as publishers for example focus on books that they believe might fit the Oprah-profile (knowing that hitting the jackpot -- by being selected -- makes up for a great number of failures) while not paying as much attention to other types of literature. Oprah's audience, too, may be getting short-changed in being presented so many titles that follow a similar arc, rather than being introduced to the true riches of the literary experience -- though this may arguably be outweighed by their at least being pushed to read in the first place. "
"One can grant that there probably are people who have read a representative selection of titles featured on Oprah's Book Club (say ten or so) and disliked all of them: such readers have the right to express some disappointment in a particular book being chosen, as that seems a reliable indicator to them that they will not enjoy the book."
But
"[O]ne suspects that most people who told Franzen: 'I'm so sorry that Oprah picked it' are sorry not because it says anything about the book, but rather because of Oprah's audience. One suspects that such people believe the book is too good for Oprah's audience. And one suspects that Franzen feels the same way. But one suspects that most people who told Franzen: "I'm so sorry that Oprah picked it" are sorry not because it says anything about the book, but rather because of Oprah's audience. One suspects that such people believe the book is too good for Oprah's audience. And one suspects that Franzen feels the same way."
And
"Franzen manages to come off as some sort of elitist (more a pathetic than a raging one) without too much help."
And, eek, I can't stop quoting:
"In a way one must admire Franzen: to him image is even more important
than money. He was willing to jeopardize a guaranteed windfall for his
misguided ideals. (As it turned out, the Oprah effect and the aftermath
were strong enough (and the backlash weak enough) to leave him both with
his ideals and the whole pile of cash.) What is worrisome, however, is
that he was also willing to put image ahead of his readers. A writer who
wants to be relevant, who wants to engage his culture, who wants to get
more of a reaction than just "sixty reviews in a vacuum" must reach out to
the public. Not just to the adoring intellectual audience he would like to
have fawning over him, but the greater reading public. Oprah gave him the
chance to reach it -- and suddenly it was all too much for him. "
------
Okay, I have to stop quoting. Read the article.
As for me, the reason I'm not picking up the book has nothing to do with being on or off Oprah's book list -- the reason is that I just don't like Franzen, and don't feel like having my money go towards his books. But I've recently discovered that in my box of "to read" books left over from 1998 or so, that I do own "The Twenty-Seventh City," bought at a time before I grew to dislike him (not because of The Corrections, actually, but because of his book reviews and his World Trade Center comments). So I might read that. Maybe.
020302
1. And hee! The article has a link to a hilarious article, this time in Flak magazine, about two Franzen photos.