BEST American Novelist Shares Life-Changing Books | Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen is one of the most successful, accomplished, and decorated writers in the world. He is a Fulbright Scholar, National Book Award Winner, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, PEN/Faulkner Finalist, and 2x Oprah’s Book Club Pick. There is just nothing like a Jonathan Franzen novel and it was sheer delight going deep with the deep-master to discuss writing advice, the magic of the written word, what heroes look like today, competing with David Foster Wallace, the best thing we can do for the climate, Jon’s 3 most formative books, and more…

ABOUT THE SHOW
3 Books is an award-winning podcast discussing life's biggest themes through the 3 most formative books of an inspiring guest.

00:00 Neil Knifes A Novel
07:42 Writing Takes Work
14:11 Fiction Creates Connection
20:05 Novels Are Not Socially Useful
25:05 Don't Read Crap
36:14 'Prince Caspian'
47:05 Kids Are Not Innocent
52:58 Exile and Persecution
1:03:54 What Makes A Hero
1:11:11 Can Adaptations Succeed?
1:16:17 'The Trial'
1:22:13 The Asshole Protagonist
1:35:44 In It For The Money
1:39:49 Readers Need Good Books
1:43:14 Dialogue is a Magic Trick
1:45:47 'Reason in a Dark Time'
1:52:05 A New Writing Mission
1:55:47 The Pressure of Climate Change
2:03:17 Does Individual Action Matter?
2:08:29 Fast Money Questions
2:09:55 Outro

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Hey there,

I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.

Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:

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Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.

👊,

Neil

[jonathanhenderson]

Just read The Corrections earlier this month. Loved it so much I basically inhaled it over a period of two days. Being a middle-aged man who's now in the unenviable position of taking care of my elderly parents I really felt like, for the first time in ages, an author was writing my life. It has that painful-but-powerful combination that happens when the ugly truth meets the poetically beautiful. Both of those elements are necessary in great literature; the former so that we feel that profound connection to life and people and don't fall into delusive perspectives, the latter so that we can find the strength to carry on. Looking forward to listening to this discussion, and to reading more Franzen.

[fernandourrutia]

I discovered him two months ago. I read The corrections, Liberty, Purity, now i'm reading Crossroads. I become an addicted to his novels. Thanks for this interview, it's amazing. Crongrats from Argentina.

[cease_]

Jonathan Franzen's novels are understandably polarizing, but any truly great novelist will always have their haters. You can't write truthful fiction without also being an agitator.

Reading Franzen's novels has been excellent instruction for me as I write my own fiction, and listening to his opinions on writing is always fun, even on the occasions when our views don't wholly coalesce. Thank you for the video!

[julcsiszigeti]

I liked it altough some of the reactions of the interviewer were a little bit too much (woooow!) for my taste. I learned interesting stories and things about Franzen's life and experiences. Worth the 2, 5 hours!

[redlss]

I’ve been listening to Franzen’s interviews one after the other in recent weeks and this is the first one where for a moment I found myself almost upset with him.

Turkish delight is S tier candy.

[matureyoungman]

you have a wonderful laugh. shalom from Ottawa

[uponder]

I got to the don't read crap part and had to check out.

Writing is rhetorical, it has to meet the reader where they are. Franzen and others like him, will never understand that.

When Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man one of his main concerns was being able to convey his vision to a reading audience that may not know the first thing about the African American experience.

Franzen on the contrary believes that anything he says should be figured out for what it is: without him having to change his language to something more familiar, which I suppose he believes he has that luxury. Because some magazine editor thinks his books are important.

[NeilPasricha]

Hey everyone! I'm a YouTube newb. Will aim to respond to all comments here and would love your feedback on how I can get better. Oh! And my most popular 3 Books podcast episodes on YouTube are:

[windigo]

The best interviews of notable authors are conducted by other writers, so, well done

Yes, you are an obvious fanboy as I also would be with JF - he changed me after I got into The Corrections & Freedom a decade or so ago, reinforcing that it really is about characters over plot, at least for literary novels

Have watched a number of JF interviews & find his musings to be among the richest & most insightful to be offered up off the cuff - there are so many nuggets here it’s ridiculous

Agreed that real books have real pages, mostly because audiobooks suck - an uttered sentence or even a phrase can send this reader off into wild imaginings & then I have to rewind the vocals to pick up the narrative - so, no, it’s only the printed page for me

[goldwhitedragon]

Great guest! Maybe try and be more conscious of your (unconscious?) nodding?

[davidwatson]

The sheer amount of pretension that comes from Franzen should be a scientific quantity. His "youthful arrogance" has just continued to "adult arrogance."

[Jbdr]

Interviewer's "wows" are unnecessary, simplistic, immature.