Franzen's "Freedom" and the Future of Literary Fiction

Fiction is healthy, Lorin Stein writes in the Atlantic, even if the business isn't:

"The critics, from the New York Times Book Review to Esquire, hail Freedom as a throwback to the former greatness of the novel. What makes it former? Just how great does a novel have to be, just how many great novels does a contemporary author have to write, before we admit that the lameness of the publishing business has failed to snuff the spark of greatness, or turn serious readers off?"

Read the rest of the article here.

Comments

Oh, I love this. Well said!