American best-selling author Jonathan Franzen has been talking about his long-awaited new novel Purity, in which he attempts to capture young people’s idealism, through the lives of four characters.
According to a Huffpost Arts & Culture report, Purity is faster paced than Franzen's acclaimed third novel The Corrections, and deals with four characters, including a journalist, an “icky” character, and an optimistic young woman.
Franzen said: “One thing I was trying to write about was youthful idealism. When you’re young you can see things in very black and white terms and purity seems like something to aspire to.”
The author admitted that he doesn’t fraternise with today’s youth. “In general you don't have to know an entire generation, you just have to know a few people from it,” he said. “I know some incredibly smart, well-read, emotionally sophisticated people in their 20s. I love them.”
He sees readers as a rather different lot of people. “Readers are, to some extent, estranged from American culture. Reading is slow and requires a long attention span and requires you to check all the electronic devices while you’re engaged with it.”
Purity is due to be published in September.
