WRITER

Jonathan Franzen

1959 - Today

Photo of Jonathan Franzen

Icon of person Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel The Corrections, a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His novel Freedom (2010) garnered similar praise and led to an appearance on the cover of Time magazine alongside the headline "Great American Novelist". Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jonathan Franzen has received more than 2,324,944 page views. His biography is available in 41 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 40 in 2019). Jonathan Franzen is the 2,867th most popular writer (down from 2,271st in 2019), the 3,625th most popular biography from United States (down from 2,923rd in 2019) and the 313th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 53.33

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 41

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.55

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.91

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Freedom
Zionism, cerulean warblers, human overpopulation
In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Walter and Patty Berglund as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time. ([source][1]) [1]: https://jonathanfranzen.com/books/
2010
The Discomfort Zone
Biography, American Authors
2006
Strong motion
Fiction, Seismologists, Earthquakes
Another second novel. As always Franzen’s scope is immense, and his talent is clear on every page. If Palanuick is the very best writer, sentence to sentence, then Franzen is clearly the best living novelist. This story involves one Louis Holland, and a Harvard seismologist named Dr. Reneé Seitchek, and it revolves around abortion activists, big corporations, and strange sudden earthquakes appearing near Boston, which every Harvard seismologist knows is very strange indeed. It writes about the evil of corporations, but in a stronger, more mature way than Palanuick. Franzen is a historian, and he tells us exactly why the world is bad, how it came to be that way. He goes all the way back to the colonization of America, but not in a preachy or boring way. He personifies a raccoon for five pages, which is strangely one of the most poignant parts of the whole book. The two main characters are what make the book. The medium-attractive Renee’ Seitchek and the lonely, lost Louis Holland, who fall for each other but seemingly never at the same time, and have painful rubbing sex as the earth shakes underneath them. Franzen is a master and a genius; he builds and constructs. He creates suspense, and makes us wait for whatever’s going to happen. He makes us work for it. As with the #1 author on this list, you can imagine him standing behind a door somewhere laughing at all of his readers. He’s smarter than us, and God can the man write. This novel succeeds where The Twenty-seventh City fell a little short, and The Corrections overthrew.
1992
The Corrections
dementia, alcoholism, Protestantism
Like bookends of the past half century, the two generations of the Lambert family represent two very different aspects of America. Alfred, the patriarch, is a distant, puritanical company man; he is also slipping into Parkinson's-induced dementia. His wife, Enid, is a model Midwestern housewife, at once deferential and controlling. Their three children--Gary, an uptight banker, baffled by his own persistent unhappiness; Chip, and ex-professor now failing as a screenwriter; and Denise, and up-and-coming chief in a hot new restaurant--have little time for Enid and Alfred. But when Enid calls for one last Christmas at the family home, the trajectories of five American lifetimes converge. With this important, profoundly affecting work, Jonathan Franzen confirms his place in the top tier of American novelists. His unique blend of subversive humor and full-blooded realism makes The Corrections a grandly entertaining family saga.
2001
The Twenty-seventh City
Police, Fiction
1988
How to Be Alone
Essays
Collection of some of Franzen's essays, including the one known as "the Harper's essay". Some are edited or tweaked from their original printings. A mixture of topics but well-written and enjoyable; Franzen is as thoughtful as ever.
2002

Page views of Jonathan Franzens by language

Over the past year Jonathan Franzen has had the most page views in the with 211,538 views, followed by German (38,790), and Russian (23,447). In terms of yearly growth of page views the top 3 wikpedia editions are Portuguese (159.01%), Cornish (108.58%), and Latin (75.35%)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Jonathan Franzen ranks 2,867 out of 7,302. Before him are Maurice Sendak, Ferenc Kazinczy, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Kostis Palamas, Anthony Horowitz, and Gu Yanwu. After him are Giacomo da Lentini, Jack Williamson, Robert Penn Warren, Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Lucia Berlin, and Erich Fried.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1959, Jonathan Franzen ranks 131. Before him are Jim Yong Kim, Stephen Harper, Helmuth Duckadam, Roberto Fiore, Henry Czerny, and R. A. Salvatore. After him are Patrick Bruel, Adri van der Poel, Hassan Diab, Ferzan Özpetek, Brian Thompson, and Mark Williams.

Others Born in 1959

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Jonathan Franzen ranks 3,625 out of 20,380. Before him are John Krasinski (1979), Ignacio Zaragoza (1829), Edith Wilson (1872), Marsha Hunt (1917), Anne Revere (1903), and Alexander Vandegrift (1887). After him are Chris O'Donnell (1970), The Big Bopper (1930), Dee Wallace (1948), Gabriel Almond (1911), Jack Williamson (1908), and Robert Penn Warren (1905).

Others born in United States

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Jonathan Franzen ranks 313. Before him are Carl Sandburg (1878), R. A. Salvatore (1959), Ben Hecht (1893), William L. Shirer (1904), Anne McCaffrey (1926), and Maurice Sendak (1928). After him are Jack Williamson (1908), Robert Penn Warren (1905), Lucia Berlin (1936), Lawrence Block (1938), Andre Norton (1912), and Herman J. Mankiewicz (1897).

American born Writers

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