Franzen's Discomfort

Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections was one of the most talked about books of 2001. And his Oprah moment only made the hype noisier. But at a recent reading to students of Hunter College from his forthcoming memoir, The Discomfort Zone, the author proved to be well, insecure and awkward:

"Franzen sheepishly undercut his work with self-disparaging comments for over an hour, telling the gathered students and faculty, 'If this doesn’t go well I’ll never read it again,' and saying that he is worried because in his new book 'all the best parts are towards the end.' "