Editing Jonathan Franzen (section)

=== ''Purity'' ===
{{main|Purity (novel)}}
In an interview with ''Portland Monthly'' on December 18, 2012, Franzen revealed that he currently had "a four-page, single-spaced proposal" for a fifth novel he was currently working on,<ref name="portlandmonthlymag.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/q-and-a-with-jonathan-franzen-january-2013|title=Q&A: Jonathan Franzen|work=portlandmonthlymag.com|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-date=December 19, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121219085319/http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/books-and-talks/articles/q-and-a-with-jonathan-franzen-january-2013|url-status=live}}</ref> although he went on to suggest that while he had a proposal there was no guarantee that what was proposed would make the final cut, saying of similar proposals for previous novels, "I look at the old proposals now, and I see the one part of them that actually got made into a book, and I think, 'How come I couldn't see that? What is all this other stuff?'".<ref name="portlandmonthlymag.com"/> Franzen also hinted that the new novel would probably also be long, adding "I've let go of any illusion that I'm a writer of 150-page novels. I need room to let things turn around over time and see them from the whole lives of other characters, not just the single character. For better or worse, one point of view never seems to do it for me."<ref name="portlandmonthlymag.com"/> In October 2014, during a discussion at [[Colgate University]], Franzen read a "self-contained first-person narrative" that is part of a novel that he hoped will be out in the summer of 2015.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rice|first1=Jessica|title=Author Jonathan Franzen visits Colgate as part of Living Writers course|url=http://news.colgate.edu/2014/10/author-jonathan-franzen-visits-colgate-as-part-of-living-writers-course.html/|website=Colgate University|access-date=November 3, 2014|archive-date=November 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104014128/http://news.colgate.edu/2014/10/author-jonathan-franzen-visits-colgate-as-part-of-living-writers-course.html/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On November 17, 2014, ''[[The New York Times]]'' Artsbeat Blog reported that the novel, titled ''Purity'', would be out in September.<ref name="artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com">{{cite web|last1=Alter|first1=Alexandra|title=New Jonathan Franzen Novel, 'Purity,' Coming in September|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/new-jonathan-franzen-novel-purity-coming-in-september/|website=Colgate The New York Times Blog|date=November 17, 2014|access-date=November 17, 2014|archive-date=November 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119063706/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/new-jonathan-franzen-novel-purity-coming-in-september/|url-status=live}}</ref> Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, described ''Purity'' as a multigenerational American epic that spans decades and continents. The story centers on a young woman named Purity Tyler, or Pip, who doesn't know who her father is and sets out to uncover his identity. The narrative stretches from contemporary America to South America to East Germany before the [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|collapse of the Berlin Wall]], and hinges on the mystery of Pip's family history and her relationship with a charismatic 
hacker and whistleblower.<ref name="artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com"/>

In 2016, ''[[Daily Variety]]'' reported that the novel was in the process of being adapted into a 20-hour limited series for [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] by [[Todd Field]] who would share writing duties with Franzen and the playwright [[Sir David Hare]]. It would star [[Daniel Craig]] as Andreas Wolf and be executive produced by Field, Franzen, Craig, Hare & [[Scott Rudin]].<ref>{{cite news|first=Elizabeth|last=Wagmeister|url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/purity-showtime-daniel-craig-scott-rudin-1201753115|title=Showtime Lands Daniel Craig, Scott Rudin Limited Series 'Purity'|work=Daily Variety|year=2016|access-date=December 15, 2017|archive-date=December 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201100525/http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/purity-showtime-daniel-craig-scott-rudin-1201753115/|url-status=live}}</ref>

However, in a February 2018 interview with ''[[The Times]]'' London, Hare said that, given the budget for Field's adaptation (170 million), he doubted it would ever be made, but added "It was one of the richest and most interesting six weeks of my life, sitting in a room with Todd Field, Jonathan Franzen and Daniel Craig bashing out the story. They're extremely interesting people."<ref>{{cite news|first=Dominic|last=Maxwell|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/david-hare-i-am-sick-to-death-of-hearing-about-the-need-for-strong-women-as-protagonists-83scsqlsv|title=David Hare: 'I am sick to death of hearing about the need for strong women as protagonists'|work=[[The Times]]|year=2018|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-date=February 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213195612/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-hare-i-am-sick-to-death-of-hearing-about-the-need-for-strong-women-as-protagonists-83scsqlsv|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Purity'' was a relative commercial disappointment compared to Franzen's two previous novels, selling only 255,476 copies, compared to 1.15 million copies of ''Freedom'' and 1.6 million copies of ''The Corrections''.<ref name="NYTimesMag">{{Cite news|last=Brodesser-Akner|first=Taffy|date=June 26, 2018|title=Jonathan Franzen Is Fine With All of It|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/magazine/jonathan-franzen-is-fine-with-all-of-it.html|access-date=March 5, 2023|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=June 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626165506/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/magazine/jonathan-franzen-is-fine-with-all-of-it.html|url-status=live}}</ref>