Within a Sky Full of Earth

More than any other single book, Kafka's The Trial changed my life. There are so many books I fell like plugging, but a particular kind of comedy that I'm suited for and most susceptible to is the comedy of not knowing yourself. - of desperately avoiding the news about yourself. The Trial was the first book where I really encountered that. It's a giant instance of that comedy! Kenzaburo Oë's A Personal Matter is also right up there. Everyone should read that. Short, too - you can do it in an evening. I thought Stendhal's The Chaterhouse of Parma was going to change my life. I briefly thought I would quit writing fiction for a few years and become a political journalist. Then I found out how boring it is to be a political journalist.
JONATHAN FRAZEN for TIMEOUT

Jonathan Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an award-winning American novelist and essayist. Franzen was born in Chicago, Illinois, raised in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, and educated at Swarthmore College. He lives on Upper East Side of New York City, and writes for The New Yorker magazine. In 2001 he won the National Book Award for Fiction. Discomfort Zone, A Personal History is his most recent book.
[AN INTERVIEW WITH HIM CAN BE FOUND HERE – FROM 'DIE ZIET' AT SIGNANDSIGHT.COM]