ADILEGIAN | “Mr. Difficult: William Gaddis and the Problem of Hard-to-Read Books,” by Jonathan Franzen Posted on March 2, 2017 by ronentity ADILEGIAN | “Mr. Difficult: William Gaddis and the Problem of Hard-to-Read Books,” by Jonathan Franzen Appeared in The New Yorker. The following text has been transcribed from the 30 September 2002 issue.