November 30, 2001

A Novelist, a Talk-Show Host, and Literature High and Low

"I feel like I'm solidly in the high-art literary tradition," said Jonathan Franzen, explaining why he wasn't thrilled to have his novel The Corrections selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club. "She's picked some good books, but she's picked enough schmaltzy, one-dimensional ones that I cringe." Oprah promptly disinvited him from her television show, but not before a fracas broke out in the literary and publishing worlds. What does the controversy say about literary culture nowadays? We asked

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