The Corrections
LC Class PS3556.R352 C67 2001 | | |
Preceded by | Strong Motion | |
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Followed by | Freedom |
The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-20th century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium. The novel was awarded the National Book Award in 2001[1] and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002.
The Corrections was published to wide acclaim from literary critics for its characterization and prose. While the novel's release preceded the
Plot summary
The novel shifts back and forth through the late 20th century, intermittently following spouses Alfred and Enid Lambert as they raise their children Gary, Chip, and Denise in the traditional
The middle son, Chip, is an unemployed academic living in New York City following his termination as a tenure-track university professor due to a sexual relationship with a student. Living on borrowed money from Denise, Chip works obsessively on a screenplay, but finds no success or motivation to pay off his debts. Following a rejection of his screenplay, Chip takes a job from his girlfriend's estranged husband Gitanas, a friendly but corrupt Lithuanian government official, later moving to Vilnius and working to defraud American investors over the Internet.
Their eldest son, Gary, is a successful but increasingly depressive and alcoholic banker living in Philadelphia with his wife, Caroline, and their three young sons. When Enid attempts to persuade Gary to bring his family to St. Jude for Christmas, Caroline is reluctant, and turns Gary's sons against him and Enid, worsening his depressive tendencies. In return, Gary attempts to force his parents to move to Philadelphia so that Alfred may undergo an experimental neurological treatment that he and Denise learn about.
Also living in Philadelphia, their youngest child Denise finds growing success as an executive chef despite Enid's disapproval and persistent scrutiny of her personal life, and is commissioned to open a new restaurant. Simultaneously impulsive and a workaholic, Denise begins affairs with both her boss and his wife, and though the restaurant is successful, she is fired when they are uncovered. Flashbacks to her childhood show her responding to her repressed upbringing by beginning an affair with one of her father's subordinates, a married railroad signals worker.
As Alfred's condition worsens, Enid attempts to manipulate all of her children into going to St. Jude for Christmas, with increasing desperation. Initially only Gary and Denise are present, Gary having failed to convince his wife or children, while Chip is delayed by a violent political conflict in Lithuania, eventually arriving late after being attacked and robbed of all his savings. Denise inadvertently discovers that her father had known of her teenaged affair with his subordinate, and had kept his knowledge a secret to protect her privacy, at great personal cost. After a disastrous Christmas morning together, the three children are dismayed by their father's condition, and Alfred is finally moved into a nursing home.
As Alfred's condition deteriorates in care, Chip stays with Enid and visits his father frequently while dating a doctor, eventually having twins with her. Denise leaves Philadelphia and moves to New York to work at a new restaurant where she is much happier. Enid, freed of her responsibilities and long-time frustrations with Alfred, slowly becomes a more open-minded person, and enjoys a healthier involvement in her children's and grandchildren's lives, finally stating that she is ready to make some changes in her life.
Reception
According to John Leonard, the novel explores the generation gap and the grasp of one generation on another in a way that reminds you of "why you read serious fiction in the first place".[5]
The novel won the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction[1] and the 2002
Style and interpretations
With The Corrections, Franzen moved away from the
In a Newsweek feature on American culture during the George W. Bush administration, Jennie Yabroff said that despite being released less than a year into Bush's term and before the September 11 attacks, The Corrections "anticipates almost eerily the major concerns of the next seven years."[11] According to Yabroff, a study of The Corrections demonstrates that much of the apprehension and disquiet that is seen as characteristic of the Bush era and post-9/11 America actually predated both. In this way, the novel is both characteristic of its time and prophetic of things to come; for Yabroff, even the controversy with Oprah, which saw Franzen branded an "elitist," was symptomatic of the subsequent course of American culture, with its increasingly prominent anti-elitist strain. She argues that The Corrections stands above later novels which focus on similar themes, because unlike its successors it addresses these themes without being "hamstrung by the 9/11 problem" which preoccupied Bush-era novels by writers such as Don DeLillo, Jay McInerney, and Jonathan Safran Foer.[11]
Film adaptation
In August 2001, producer Scott Rudin optioned the film rights to The Corrections for Paramount Pictures.[23] The rights still have not yet been turned into a completed film.[24]
In 2002, the film was said to be in
In January 2005, Variety announced that, with Daldry presumably off the project, Robert Zemeckis was developing Hare's script "with an eye toward directing."[27] In August 2005, Variety confirmed that the director would definitely be helming The Corrections.[28] Around this time, it was rumored that the cast would include Judi Dench as the family matriarch Enid, along with Brad Pitt, Tim Robbins and Naomi Watts as her three children.[29] In January 2007, Variety wrote that Hare was still at work on the film's screenplay.[30]
In September 2011, it was announced that Rudin and the screenwriter and director Noah Baumbach were preparing The Corrections as a "drama series project," to potentially co-star Anthony Hopkins and air on HBO. Baumbach and Franzen collaborated on the screenplay, which Baumbach would direct. In 2011, it was announced that Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest would star in the HBO adaptation. In November 2011, it was announced that Ewan McGregor had joined the cast.[31] In a March 7, 2012, interview, McGregor confirmed that work on the film was "about a week" in and noted that both Dianne Wiest and Maggie Gyllenhaal were among the cast members.[32] But on May 1, 2012, HBO decided not to pick up the pilot for a full series.[33]
Radio adaptation
In January 2015, the
References
- ^ a b
"National Book Awards – 2001". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-27.
(With acceptance speech by Franzen and essays by Mary Jo Bang, David Ulin, and Lee Taylor Gaffigan from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) - ^ The New Classics: Books
- ^ All-TIME 100 Books
- ^ "A Premature Attempt at the 21st Century Canon". www.vulture.com. September 17, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
- ^ Leonard, John (September 20, 2001). "Nuclear Fission (review of The Corrections)". The New York Review of Books.
- ^ "Fiction". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
- ^ "All Time 100 Novels". Time. October 16, 2005. Archived from the original on October 19, 2005. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ Birnbaum, Robert. "Bret Easton Ellis", The Morning News, January 19, 2006. Retrieved on October 28, 2008.
- ^ "The Best Fiction of the Millennium (So Far): An Introduction", The Millions, By Editor, September 21, 2009 .
- ^ McGee, C. Max (September 25, 2009). "Best of the Millennium, Pros Versus Readers". The Millions.
- ^ Newsweek Media Group.
- ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
- ^ Geier, Thom; Jensen, Jeff; Jordan, Tina; Lyons, Margaret; Markovitz, Adam; Nashawaty, Chris; Pastorek, Whitney; Rice, Lynette; Rottenberg, Josh; Schwartz, Missy; Slezak, Michael; Snierson, Dan; Stack, Tim; Stroup, Kate; Tucker, Ken; Vary, Adam B.; Vozick-Levinson, Simon; Ward, Kate (December 11, 2009), "THE 100 Greatest MOVIES, TV SHOWS, ALBUMS, BOOKS, CHARACTERS, SCENES, EPISODES, SONGS, DRESSES, MUSIC VIDEOS, AND TRENDS THAT ENTERTAINED US OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS". Entertainment Weekly. (1079/1080):74-84
- ISBN 978-9042021624. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- BOMB Magazine. Fall 2001. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
- ^ Theo Schell-Lambert. "Village Voice 9/5/06 article". Villagevoice.com. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ "American Popular Culture Magazine article". Americanpopularculture.com. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ Laugier, Sandra. "Interview in Bomb Magazine issue 77". Bombsite.com. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ISBN 9783638818230. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ISBN 9780300107487. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ "Bookpage interview". Bookpage.com. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ISBN 9780374707644. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ Bing, Jonathan; Fleming, Michael (August 1, 2001). "'Corrections' connections for Rudin". Variety.
- ^ The Corrections (2011) IMDB
- ^ Susman, Gary. "Cast Away", Entertainment Weekly, January 27, 2005. Retrieved on January 25, 2007.
- ^ Valby, Karen. "Correction Dept." Entertainment Weekly, October 25, 2002. Retrieved January 25, 2007.
- ^ Fleming, Michael (January 27, 2005). "Zemeckis checks new draft of 'Corrections'". Variety. Retrieved January 25, 2007.
- ^ Fleming, Michael. "Rudin books tyro novel", Variety, August 29, 2005. Retrieved on January 25, 2007.
- ^ Watts & Pitt Undergo "Corrections" (February 4, 2005) – Dark Horizons
- ^ Fleming, Michael. "Miramax, Rudin option rights to novel: Pair pact for Pessl novel 'Calamity'", Variety, January 10, 2007. Retrieved on November 1, 2007.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "Noah Baumbach’s & Scott Rudin’s ‘The Corrections’ Adaptation Nears Pilot Pickup At HBO, Anthony Hopkins Circling", Deadline Hollywood, September 2, 2011. Retrieved on September 5, 2011.
- ^ Tasha Robinson "Interview: Ewan McGregor"
- ^ HBO Passes on the Pilot for The Corrections Adaptation
External links
- Jonathan Franzen's web page about The Corrections
- Interview with Franzen in BOMB magazine issue 77
- Listen to 2001 Interview with Jonathan Franzen, conducted by NPR's Fresh Air
- Answering Viewers' Questions at Big Think from April 14, 2008
- The Complete Review: detailed summary and overview of reviews
- BBC Radio programme page, 15 Minute Drama
- James Wood review