We’ve stumbled upon a very interesting review of Stephen Burns’ Jonathan Franzen at the End of Postmodernism (2008), written by the Danish scholar Tore Rye Anderson for Politics and Culture. “Despite (…) lavish praise”, he writes
Franzen’s novels have been largely neglected by literary scholars, at least compared to contemporaries like David Foster Wallace and Richard Powers, who have both had entire books and special issues of journals devoted to their work. As the first book devoted entirely to the work of Jonathan Franzen, excellent study goes a long way toward filling this critical lacuna.
As the first book devoted entirely to the work of Jonathan Franzen, Stephen J. Burn’s excellent study goes a long way toward filling this critical lacuna. His book has a double aim: to provide a study of Franzen’s work (with particular emphasis on the novels), and to situate Franzen in a larger group of contemporary authors who can be loosely defined as the successors to literary postmodernists like Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, William Gaddis and John Barth. These successors, whom Burn tentatively labels as “post-postmodernists,” include David Foster Wallace and Richard Powers, who are also amply treated in the book.
Read the whole review here.