Aced Holy

Someone asked me the other day whether I was sliding along a charge of impropriety, possibly anti-Semitism, towards the novel Freedom. I replied, no exactly, though Franzen does create situations of stereotype which do appear disproportionate, particularly Patty's cousin.

It should be noted that I finished Zone by Mathias Enard last week and was struck by its scope and unrelenting foment. I thought of Umberto Eco being asked about his definition of a polymath: someone interested in everything and nothing else. It appeared that Enard had melded Braudel's classic study of the Mediterranean with Robert Fisk's account of recent Middle Eastern tumult.