Are e-books damaging society? Jonathan Franzen says yes

Author Jonathan Franzen speaks on stage during The 2011 New Yorker Festival.

/ Getty/Neilson Barnard

(CBS) - American writer of bestselling novels "The Corrections" and "Freedom" Jonathan Franzen came out swinging against e-books at a speaking engagement in Cartagena, Colombia.

The Telegraph reported Franzen saying physical paper books are the more superior technology because they'll still be around in 10 years.

"I can spill water on it and it would still work! So it's pretty good technology. And what's more, it will work great 10 years from now. So no wonder the capitalists hate it. It's a bad business model," Franzen told the Telegraph.

The criticism didn't end there. Franzen went on to imply that people who read e-books are not serious readers.

"I think, for serious readers, a sense of permanence has always been part of the experience. Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn't change," Franzen said.

That's a sweeping generalization rooted in an overly-romanticized view of printed books. Even if I agree with him, as a book lover, his statements are too condescending to take seriously. The Twitterverse wasn't happy with Franzens remarks either - no surprise there.

"Jonathan Franzen 1st worried the wrong people were reading (Oprah), now thinks people are reading wrong," tweeted @MarshallLaws.

"Rather than admit taste is subjective, Jonathan Franzen insists that those with different preferences are inferior," tweeted @jessespaffor.

They both make good points. How each person reads is a personal decision and an intimate act. Get your nose out of our e-books, Mr. Franzen.

Franzen doesn't even take into consideration the countless self-published authors who wouldn't have a chance of seeing their books actualized because of the old guards at the gates of publishing companies. Most of them won't  win a Pulitzer Prize, but they've achieved a dream of sharing their stories with the world.

Technology done well is meant to disrupt existing institutions. Very much in the same way the moveable type replaced woodblock printing. While we may lament over the loss of the medium, it was inevitable that efficiency superseded nostalgia.

Slate's Torie Bosch points out, "It's not necessary to disparage the technology and everyone who enjoys it as somehow less serious or missing a grand philosophical point." Agreed.

[M-Hughley]

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[PDurnat]

What happens when you can no longer access those Binary Books.. When the Electricity stops flowing, you lose access to all the knowledge of the World. Kind of like the Burning of the Library at Alexandria in advance.
With Printed Books Humanity will survive any Holocaust. 1's and 0's don't.

[esvida]

If readers pick up more vocabulary is damaging to society, Franzen is absolutely right about eBook. I don't mind printed books, but given a choice, I'll take a Kindle book every time.

[Bojax39]

"Are e-books damaging society?"

The same question was asked about the printing press, movable type, the telegraph and film and television and the internet and pretty much any method of disseminating information to a mass audience since we began scrawling pictures on cave walls.

Did these things damage society? They certainly changed it. This is merely another evolution in information storage. So long as there are folks who love them and have need of printed archives, books will not cease to exist. The printed word will be around for centuries to come.

Mr. Franzen, would you consider one who chooses to read one of your books in e-book form a "serious reader"? If your work is as pompous and arrogant as you seem to be then perhaps your books are a waste of time no matter what form they take.

[ispat101]

Self publishing with the help of ebooks is a great equalizer. Many of the successful new epublishers had their books rejected by several brick-and-mortar publishers who, over the years have become subjective and condescending, to say the least. How did these people become successful, if they were writing material that did not appeal to buyers? Let the brick-and-mortar publishers keep up their old lofty ways, and more writers will move to ebook option. There is absolutely no reason to feed a couple of patronizing middlemen, since the authors can reach their buyers themselves. Therein lies the real problem and the fear of older writers who are intricately entwined with brick-and-mortar publishers. There is an audience for ebooks, and there is an audience for paper books. Why not leave it at that?

[tsigili]

That's pretty silly. Reading isn't about collecting books. It is about broadening one's perspective.

[notfucharley]

Collecting books is a lot easier when they weigh nothing. I have a whole library of fiction and reference works in my pocket.

[Scimajor]

So .... he doesn't like e-books but gives no reason for it other than he doesn't like e-books. Errrr........ did he invest in a paper mill or something?

Ridiculous!

[KPeters_from_UK]

Centuries ago Socrates lamentated against writing. He said that it would corrupt the youth and destroy all oral history and memory. "[It] destroys memory [and] weakens the mind, relieving it of...work that makes it strong. [It] is an inhuman thing."
Every time someone goes head and pontificates against some new technology or trend I think of this quote and remember that even brilliant thinkers get it wrong too.

[skeezix06]

Put simply, I remember what I read from a real book better than what I read on a screen.

[tuathadedannan]

I'm glad someone brought that up. There is something tactile about a real book that somehow triggers your memory. I can always remember the size, color, weight of the real book. On my Ipad all things are the same, in a tactile sense.