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An Exclusive Look at the Cover of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom

By posted at 12:38 pm on March 29, 2010 12

coverWe learned recently that Jonthan Franzen’s long-awaited follow-up to The Corrections, a new novel called Freedom, will arrive at the end of August. Now we have a cover too.

Franzen’s name looms appropriately large on the cover (in a font that recalls Ed Ruscha [edit: or Wayne White]), as does what appears to be a variety of blue jay a Cerulean Warbler. All of this is set atop a lake scene at sunset, the evergreen trees in the background suggesting northern latitudes.

As we noted in our 2010 book preview: “The excerpt from the novel that appeared last year [in The New Yorker] was notable for its return to the more generous ironies that endeared The Corrections to our ‘Best Fiction of the Millennium (So Far) panel.’”





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12 Responses to “An Exclusive Look at the Cover of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom”

  1. Eric Sprague
    at 1:21 pm on March 29, 2010

    The bird on the cover on Franzen’s new book is a cerulean warbler.

  2. Kallen
    at 1:32 pm on March 29, 2010

    Look at that cover! I could already see it being picked for Oprah’s Book Club and Franzen’s subsequent rejection.

  3. Giovanni
    at 1:35 pm on March 29, 2010

    That cover reminds me more of Wayne White than Ed Ruscha (see examples here: http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=183962&page_tab=Artworks_for_sale)

  4. Lydia Kiesling
    at 7:39 pm on March 29, 2010

    It’s kind of…vertiginous.

  5. Jacob Silverman
    at 3:01 am on March 30, 2010

    Odd cover. I like most of the individual elements but not together. Also seems like a silly title, but none of it will matter, of course, if the book’s good.

  6. tom
    at 12:15 pm on March 30, 2010

    Twin Peaks. And Lynch should be insulted. That is all.

  7. Passover Bites: Franzen’s Cover, Warhol’s Pals, Cheever’s Story, Atwood’s Addiction, Kerman’s Excerpt, Neil Young on Skype, and More « Vol. 1 Brooklyn
    at 12:37 pm on March 30, 2010

    [...] Jonathan Franzen has a new novel coming out, and The Millions shows us the cover. [...]

  8. HTMLGIANT
    at 7:09 pm on March 30, 2010

    [...] [via The Millions] Jonathan Franzen’s long awaited novel’s cover is out. I’m actually pretty excited about this. Hungry to get in on the pastoral rage, we’ve mocked a similar cover, with a little birdie of our own. Sorry, symbolism is so [18]80’s. Tags: jonathan franzen [...]

  9. Jonathan Franzen to be 2010 Decatur Book Fest keynote speaker | Culture Surfing
    at 6:47 pm on June 7, 2010

    [...] speaker for the 2010 festival.  The Corrections author will publish his first book in nine years, Freedom: A Novel, on Aug. 31—  just days before the DBF’s fifth annual event kicks off Labor Day [...]

  10. Valarie
    at 4:53 pm on June 10, 2010

    No Black Bellied Whistler?

  11. ExcerptReader
    at 8:20 am on July 15, 2010

    You can read the two released excerpts from Jonathan Franzen’s FREEDOM in the New Yorker or read the excerpts reviews in The Excerpt Reader’s blog http://the-excerpt-reader.blogspot.com/2010/07/excerpt-jonathan-franzens-freedom.html

  12. mr. pink
    at 12:11 am on September 25, 2010

    That cover is a complete ripoff of Wayne White.

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