How to Be Alone

Essays

This volume collects fourteen personal and critical essays by Jonathan Franzen exploring the preservation of solitude, privacy, and individuality in contemporary society. The pieces address the decline of the serious American novel, mass media saturation, the loss of civic spaces, and consumer culture. Franzen also reflects candidly on personal subjects including his relationship with his father during his decline from Alzheimer's disease and his own complex experiences with literary fame.

by Jonathan Franzen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux · First published 2002 · 278 pages