Oprah Offender Wins National Book Award

Jonathan Franzen, the author Oprah Winfrey disinvited to dinner, found a forgiving home at the National Book Awards. He won the fiction prize for his acclaimed best-seller “The Corrections.�

“It’s been a bad couple of months here . . . a terrible time,� Franzen said, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks, although making some wonder if he meant his own public trials. He had repeatedly insulted Winfrey, who picked his novel for her book club, and got kicked off her show.

Franzen’s novel, a 500-page chronicle of the life and times of an unhappy Midwestern family, was published to rave reviews and immediately became one of the year’s most discussed works of fiction.