Jonathan Franzen and the Romance of Community: Narratives of Salvation, Jes?s Blanco Hidalga

Despite the success and significance of Jonathan Franzens fiction, his work has received relatively little scholarly attention. Aiming to fill this conspicuous gap, Jonathan Franzen and the Romance of Community analyzes each of Franzens five novels in chronological order to reveal an interior logic animating his work.

Integrating various formal and ideological perspectives to illuminate Franzens work, Jesus Blanco Hidalga demonstrates that the concepts of salvation and redemption, typical of romance narratives, run throughout Franzens fiction. Even as he re-assesses and expands the familiar interpretations of Franzens work, Blanco Hidalga shows how these salvation narratives are used for self-legitimization not only by the characters, but by the writer himself. Combining critical rigor with interpretative boldness, Jonathan Franzen and the Romance of Community offers a new theoretical approach to a major contemporary author.