Who Cares About Authors’ Opinions, Anyway?

2012 at 10am     Posted by Rebecca Schinsky

You can’t swing a cat this week without hitting a reference to the write-up ofJonathan Franzen’s Cartagena, Colombia press conference. That’s right folks, Jonathan Franzen held a press conference. In Colombia. No, we don’t have any idea why.

The bestselling and oft-derided author stated his opinions on Barack Obama’s reading habits (it’s great that he’s a fan, but shouldn’t he read something more important than a novel?), the dangers of combining technology and capitalism (wonder how he rationalizes his HBO deal…), mortality (no joke), and the never-ending print vs. ebook debate (which, I hasten to add, is a false dichotomy). It comes as no surprise to anyone who’s been paying even minimal attention that Franzen prefers the printed word, but HOO BOY did he ruffle some feathers when he stated that real “serious readers” (like himself, natch) require a “sense of permanence” he believes ebooks can’t provide. So, you know, if you like ebooks, you’re obviously not a serious reader. Jonathan Franzen is smarter than you, and he wants you to know you’ve been conned.

Insulting? Sure it is. But consequential? Hell to the no. It sucks that Franzen is so judgy–especially at a time when the literary community is working hard to demonstrate that books in any format are still relevant–and we do wonder what he thinks about readers who are serious enough to enjoy Freedom but who read it on digital devices. Yeah, what of them? It’s a headscratcher…but that’s all it is: a sucky, insulting, totally inconsequential headscratcher of a statement from an author who we are nearly positive did not consult his publicist before he opened his mouth.   Read more