''How to Be Alone'' is a 2002 book collecting fourteen essays by American writer

Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel ''The Corrections'' drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a Jame ...

Essays

Most of the essays previously appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'', '' Details'', and ''Graywolf Forum''. In the introductory essay, "A Word About This Book," Franzen notes that the "underlying investigation in all these essays" is "the problem of preserving individuality and complexity in a noisy and distracting mass culture: the question of how to be alone."

"The Harper's Essay" and "My Father's Brain"

Included in the collection are "Why Bother?"—a revised version of "Perchance to Dream," Franzen's infamous 1996 ''Harper's'' essay on the novelists' obligation to social realism—and "My Father's Brain," nominated for a 2002

National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

. The latter essay details the elder Franzen's struggle with

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. These experiences informed Franzen’s writing of the character Alfred Lambert in his 2001 novel '' The Corrections''.

Later Editions

The 2003 trade paperback edition includes a fifteenth essay, " Mr. Difficult", on the subject of "difficult" fiction in general and the novels of William Gaddis in particular. To accommodate this additional essay, the essay “Scavenging” was substantially edited.

*"A Word About This Book" *"My Father's Brain" (an edited version appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''; see External links) *"Imperial Bedroom" *" Why Bother?" *"Lost in the Mail" *"Erika Imports" *"Sifting the Ashes" *"The Reader in Exile" *"First City" *"Scavenging" *"Control Units" *"Books in Bed" *"Meet Me in St. Louis" *"Inauguration Day, January 2001" :''Note: In the trade paperback edition "Mr. Difficult" was inserted after "Control Units".''

Reception

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'' reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": '' Times'', ''

Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegr ...

'', ''

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'', and ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' reviews under "Love It" and ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' and '' TLS'' reviews under "Pretty Good". Globally, ''

Complete Review ''Complete Review'' (stylized ''complete review'') is a literary website founded in March 1999. It is best known for reviews of novels in English translation, in particular drawing attention to otherwise neglected contemporary works from around th ...

'' saying on the consensus "Most find them impressive and illuminating, but a few aren't convinced". Janet Maslin, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', called the book "captivating but uneven"—"this collection emphasizes ranzen'selegance, acumen and daring as an essayist, with an intellectually engaging self-awareness as formidable as Joan Didion's. He's funny, too." Maslin praised the essay "My Father's Brain" as "a tough, haunting account." In ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', critic A.O. Scott discussed Franzen's, "calm, passionate critical authority." Scott closed,

"At present, in Franzen's humane, pessimistic view, our individuality is under assault from all quarters, and the novel is part of a web of modern institutions—along with the daily mail, the industrial city and the idea of a democratic public sphere—undermined by the irresistible (that is, both unstoppable and undeniably attractive) forces of standardization and privatization. To point this out is, inevitably, to sound like something of a crank, and the accomplishment of this book is to offer its cranky author and his like-minded readers a suitably contradictory and ambiguous consolation: we're not alone."A.O. Scott, "Vaunting Ambivalence," ''The New York Times Book Review'', November 10, 2002.

References

External links

"My Father's Brain" in ''The Guardian''

An abstract of "Mr. Difficult"
from the ''

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