![]() ![]() Although the title carries whiny connotations of self-help, Franzen's underlying concern is with "the problem of preserving individuality and complexity in a noisy and distracting mass culture", beneath which runs a more personal ambivalence: how to do so while also avoiding the crippling isolation that characterises depression. ![]() But it is not merely a well-written miscellany. How to be Alone's 13 essays have been published before and they combine into an impressive book. By JANE WESTAWAY* Sceptics may be assured that this collection of essays from the writer who made his name as much from his rumoured shunning of the Oprah seal of literary approval as from his bestselling novel, The Corrections, is much more than the usual potboiler designed to tide us over to the next big novel. ![]()
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