SOURCE: Gessen, Keith. “A Literary Correction.” American Prospect 12, no. 19 (5 November 2001): 33-5.

In the following review of The Corrections, Gessen contrasts Franzen's book with that of other great modern writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Don DeLillo.

Toward the end of Jonathan Franzen's magnificent new novel The Corrections, Chip Lambert, an associate professor who has lost his job—in the great tradition of fictional associate professors, for sleeping with a student—returns to his parents' midwestern home after three months as a Web-based con artist in Lithuania. “A holly wreath was on the door,” Chip observes.

The front walk was edged with snow and evenly spaced broom marks. The midwestern street struck the traveler as a wonderland of wealth and oak trees and conspicuously useless space. The traveler didn't see how such a place could exist in a world of Lithuanias and Polands. It was a testament to...