How to Be Alone

From the National Book Award-winning author of The Corrections, a collection of essays that reveal him to be one of our sharpest, toughest, and most entertaining social critics

While the essays in this collection range in subject matter from the sex-advice industry to the way a supermax prison works, each one wrestles with the essential themes of Franzen's writing: the erosion of civil life and private dignity; and the hidden persistence of loneliness in postmodern, imperial America. Reprinted here for the first time is Franzen's controversial l996 investigation of the fate of the American novel in what became known as "the Harper's essay," as well as his award-winning narrative of his father's struggle with Alzheimer's disease, and a rueful account of his brief tenure as an Oprah Winfrey author.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 10/01/2003
ISBN: 9780312422165
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.61lbs
Size: 8.32h x 5.54w x 0.77d

Review Citations: New York Times 10/12/2003 pg. 24