“Jonathan Franzen” (post 6) by Philip Weinstein: Franzen provides key, “I have multiple selves,” but biographer does not use it in his interpretations

Philip Weinstein, Professor of English at Franzen’s alma mater, discusses the author and his work, through and including Purity (2015), the novel I discuss in five previous posts (search “Franzen”).

In Chapter 1, “Becoming Jonathan Franzen,” Weinstein quotes Franzen as saying:

“That we do things that we’re not aware of doing…that we so often unaccountably sabotage ourselves…A human personality is best understood as a collection of selves in conflict…I am a divided person. I have multiple selves” (1, p. 34).

Weinstein fails to apply the above to his interpretation of Andreas Wolf, one of the main characters in Purity. As I have previously discussed, this character had a dissociative fugue (during which he did things, including murder, that he was not aware of doing), had a named alternate personality (Killer), and sabotaged himself in the most extreme way (suicide).

When a novelist provides a key to his work (multiple personality), use it.

1. Philip Weinstein. Jonathan Franzen: The Comedy of Rage. New York, Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.