L. Gibson (he/they) is a poet and critic whose publications include the book-length poem Misherit (2019).

• 1. Coming Down on Franzen2. “Ah, but Underneath”3. Agnostic Omniscience4. “Everyone’s a Moralist”5. Exiled in Guyville6. The More He Fought About It, the Angrier He Got7. Coming Down on Franzen (2)AcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

What can reading Franzen tell us about fiction and what we want from it, and don't, and how that changes? Gibson pushes past both eyerolling dismissals of Franzen and the uncritical accolades of Oprah and Time magazine and takes the novels seriously as complex, if flawed, works of fiction that inspire and reward immersive and close reading.

L. Gibson (he/they) is a poet and critic whose publications include the book-length poem Misherit (2019).

• 1. Coming Down on Franzen2. “Ah, but Underneath”3. Agnostic Omniscience4. “Everyone’s a Moralist”5. Exiled in Guyville6. The More He Fought About It, the Angrier He Got7. Coming Down on Franzen (2)AcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

What can reading Franzen tell us about fiction and what we want from it, and don't, and how that changes? Gibson pushes past both eyerolling dismissals of Franzen and the uncritical accolades of Oprah and Time magazine and takes the novels seriously as complex, if flawed, works of fiction that inspire and reward immersive and close reading.

L. Gibson (he/they) is a poet and critic whose publications include the book-length poem Misherit (2019).

• 1. Coming Down on Franzen2. “Ah, but Underneath”3. Agnostic Omniscience4. “Everyone’s a Moralist”5. Exiled in Guyville6. The More He Fought About It, the Angrier He Got7. Coming Down on Franzen (2)AcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

What can reading Franzen tell us about fiction and what we want from it, and don't, and how that changes? Gibson pushes past both eyerolling dismissals of Franzen and the uncritical accolades of Oprah and Time magazine and takes the novels seriously as complex, if flawed, works of fiction that inspire and reward immersive and close reading.