Families in literature: the Lamberts in The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

For all their evasions, their enmities and their missed messages, this is a a family redeemed by love

Alfred is sick. He was once a confident and able man. A man who might have been a little anal retentive, but also someone who could do things. A former railroad engineer, a builder and a planner and someone who left a solid, well executed mark on the world.

But as Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections begins, we quickly see that Alfred, although “still an imposing” figure, is in trouble. He is succumbing rapidly to Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Soon, he’s reduced to having conversations with hallucinatory faeces. Lots of faeces. Faeces that are conspiring against him.

Continue reading...