In defense of Franzen

I originally wanted this blog post to focus on this idea: First the book battled other media, and now it battles itself.

But to be honest, I've not much else to say about that at this very moment - it's just something that popped into my head while thinking about all of the readings for this week and their relationship with the scholarship on new media/Remediation/digital literacy/etc that I've delighted in for the past few years.

What I'd rather write about at the present moment is how proud I am of Franzen's personal admissions in "Why Bother?"  At first, my knee-jerk reaction to the essay was akin to Shandi's very justifiable and understandable rant. But then I read on and thought to myself "Holy shit, this guy is flat out admitting that he's depressed and that it sucks and that he wishes he could do something about it."  I read further and thought "Holy shit, this guy is admitting that he has disregarded history in favor or a selfish, self-serving perspective that feeds his depression and justifies the awful relationships he has with other people."  And at that moment, I applauded Jonathan Franzen. I applauded him because it takes a lot of guts to "out" yourself in such a way.  Even as a published author - with a modicum or a great deal of notoriety - one is not necessarily reflective, let alone to everyone.  I found Franzen's essay almost as refreshing as any of Anne Lamott's writing.  There's a raw honesty that indeed begins as a tale of woe that is enough to make you want to slap the man - but it progresses into a beautiful moment of self-actualization and a sense of placement in the world no matter what the world is perceived to be.

I see in Franzen's essay the very notion that "I am one person in a world of competing values" and instead of crumbling underneath that daunting reality (realism), he finds a place/a wedge/a foot-in-the-door.  Ultimately, I think Franzen says it best when he asserts "there is no bubble that can stay unburst" (96).  That right there is all the realization any human being may ever need - whether an author, an iron worker, a barista, a college professor, or the guy that sells newspapers by the freeway on-ramp on Sunday mornings.