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I think what Franzen is most afraid of is that he and the "haves" of the publishing industry are losing grip on their control of what people read. In the past, the more expensive it was for ideas to get out, the fewer people could afford to control the ideas that got out.
Now, I can a story with some very subversive ideas, hit a button, and blog about it, and the entire world can have my ideas for $2 a piece.
All his whinging about "permanence" is really just whining about control. They don't have the control. Paperback novels HAVE changed. The version of the Great Gatsby I read in college was actually DIFFERENT from the version I read in high school. Nat Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter has been revised multiple times.
No, when he says it's about "permanence", what he really means is " in my eyes ,THE WRONG people have the ability to change things." The wrong people have control over their own work. The wrong people don't need big companies to justify their ideas anymore.
He's a dying breed. I'm certain buggywhip makers were just the same.
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