Jonathan Franzen

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Jonathan Franzen

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12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

Britannica's Book Bingo. Take our reading challenge! Books range form greatest, banned, and counterculture.

Britannica’s Book Bingo

Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales.

10 Captivating Contemporary Novels Set in the British Isles

Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company

Periods of American Literature

Happy, smiling, flying pig

7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From

Discover

Title: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, December 14, 1825: repression of the troop mutiny - watercolor by Carl Ivanovitch Kollman, 1825 depicts Decembrist uprising clashing with cavalry, with spectators watching. (new style December 26, 1825) Europe. Saint

8 of the Largest Empires in History

Thumbnail for flags that look alike quiz Russia, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway

Flags That Look Alike

Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017

What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1855), founder of the house of Rothschild; lithograph by Friedrich Lieder, c. 1830.

Where Do Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschild Family Come From?

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Woman tied to a ducking stool, a method of punishment by means of humiliation, beating, or death. (cucking stool)

8 Unusual Punishments Inflicted on Women Throughout History

Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.

Why Is Ireland Two Countries?

Jonathan Franzen: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Born	August 17, 1959 (age 65) • Illinois
Awards And Honors	National Book Award (2001)
Notable Works	“Crossroads” • “The Discomfort Zone” • “Freedom” • “How to Be Alone” • “Purity” • “Strong Motion” • “The Corrections” • “The Twenty-seventh City”

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Jonathan Franzen

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Alice Walker

Alice Walker

American writer

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

American author

Winner of a Pulitzer Prize

Annie Proulx

American author

Hazzard, Shirley

Shirley Hazzard

American author

Wright Morris

American writer and photographer

Hearn, Lafcadio

Lafcadio Hearn

British-born writer and translator

Babette Deutsch

American poet, critic, translator, and novelist

Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward

American author

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates

American author

Merwin, W.S.

W.S. Merwin

American poet

Robert Bly

American author

Joan Didion

Joan Didion

American author

Ha Jin

Ha Jin

Chinese American writer

John Updike

John Updike

American author

Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O’Connor

American writer

Philip Roth

Philip Roth

American author

Doctorow, E.L.

E.L. Doctorow

American author

Saul Bellow

American author

John Barth

American writer

Katherine Anne Porter

American author