Jennifer Egan: ‘Twitter doesn’t make me feel optimistic about human nature’

The Pulitzer prize-winning author discusses her follow up to A Visit from the Goon Squad and how imagining a new technology set her writing freeWhen Jennifer Egan bought her house in Brooklyn 20 years ago, it had been on the market for eight months. The owners were an elderly couple, and the place was distressed. “There were holes in the floor and the walls were drab,” says Egan, sitting in the kitchen of what is now a beautifully renovated property, full of lovely art and restored period details. Remembering how it was fills the 59-year-old novelist with a peculiar and very specific dread. “What really made it gloomy – and I’m very conscious of this – was that the family who’d lived here, the child had grown up, the parents had gotten old, and I think they’d stopped seeing it. There are moments when I think: is that happening now?”It’s the condition in which most of us live – after a while, we stop seeing our surroundings – and one against which Egan’s skill as a novelist is set. She is highly attuned to the falsifying effects of nostalgia, complacency, solipsism and ignorance of history, and to the delusions of uniqueness that dog every age. She is obsessed, for example, with the 1870s, “an amazing decade, because, except for the telegraph, almost none of the inventions we take for granted now – electricity, say – existed yet. And yet, 20 or 30 years later, there were cars. I think we underestimate the degree to which the change we experience is what it’s always been... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2022-04-16 08:00:03 UTC ]
News tagged with: #jennifer egan #feel optimistic #human nature #goon squad #human beings #prize-winning author

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Jennifer Egan: ‘Twitter doesn’t make me feel optimistic about human nature’

The Pulitzer prize-winning author discusses her follow up to A Visit from the Goon Squad and how imagining a new technology set her writing freeWhen Jennifer Egan bought her house in Brooklyn 20 years ago, it had been on the market for eight months. The owners were an elderly couple, and the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-04-16 08:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prize-winning author #human beings #goon squad #human nature #feel optimistic #jennifer egan


BookExpo 2017: Writing What She Doesn’t Know: Jennifer Egan

Listening to Jennifer Egan talk about writing fiction brings to mind the famous quote from E.L. Doctorow: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jennifer egan


Twitter has a fix for its news problem—make a new Twitter!

Last week, Facebook waffled yet again about which #content people want to see on Facebook. Cue the launch of a new feature that lets publishers label one breaking news story a day. With Facebook experimenting with breaking news, it seems only fitting that Twitter would do the same. The company... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Will Human-AI Partnerships Make Publishing Workers More Innovative?

The journey is just beginning, but we can already see that publishing workflows are especially ripe for AI integration that enables the automation of rote tasks—and AI-driven support for more humans making more complex decisions and judgments. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Writers Talking Writers: Jennifer Egan on Edith Wharton and Jinwoo Chong on John Okada

Two writers whose work explores the aggregate nature of personal and collective fate discuss authors who were master interrogators of social dualism in their own times. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-05-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #edith wharton #jennifer egan


Six ‘implicitly optimistic’ novels make the International Booker prize shortlist

From books about disintegrating relationships and countries to a worker’s-eye view of Korea and a story of farmers in Brazil, the selected titles engage with current realities, say the judging panelKorean writer Hwang Sok-yong and German author Jenny Erpenbeck appear on this year’s International... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-09 13:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #german author #guardian review #korean history #s-eye view #year running


Cannes Today—Twitter and Meta make pitches, Omnicom hooks up with Google AI and Grand Prix latest

Welcome to Day Two of Ad Age’s Cannes Today newsletter. Reading this online and want it delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up here.  For real-time updates, follow our live blog. And see all our coverage here. Plus, click here for a recap of Day One. Twitter is beachless but bullish and Meta... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2023-06-20 20:38:54 UTC ]
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Jennifer Egan on the Fascinating Interactions Between Technology and Inner Life

Illustration by Krishna Bala Shenoi. Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso is a weekly series of intimate conversations with artists, authors, and politicians. It’s a podcast where people sound like people. New episodes air every Sunday, distributed by Pushkin Industries.  * In this episode from May 2022,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-25 08:53:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #prize-winning author #pushkin industries #episodes air #intimate conversations #weekly series #sam fragoso #talk easy #jennifer egan #people sound


Jennifer Egan wants to save literary fiction from itself

Jennifer Egan walks and talks — about 'The Candy House,' her sequel to 'A Visit From the Goon Squad,' and why she still believes in fiction and humanity. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-04-03 12:00:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #literary fiction #goon squad #candy house #jennifer egan


Jennifer Egan’s ‘The Candy House’ revisits the goon squad

“The Candy House” is a sequel to Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “A Visit From the Good Squad.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-29 11:52:21 UTC ]
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5 Books from a Cat’s Perspective on Human Nature, by Rachel Hubbard

Lit Lists The past year and a half of being stuck inside and working from home has led many of us to turn to our pets as consistent conversational companions. For some, we have even adopted the peculiar social practices of our furry friends. If you are... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-12-09 15:24:00 UTC ]
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22 books about Manhattan jet-setters that will make you feel like one

You may not be going to the Hamptons this summer, but these beach reads will give you a love-hate taste of it. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-07-15 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribner Buys New Jennifer Egan Book

'The Candy House,' set for April 5, 2022, is being dubbed by Scribner as a "sibling novel" to Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning 2010 book, 'A Visit from the Goon Squad,' and is set over the course of decades in and around both New York City and San Francisco. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-07-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #goon squad #candy house #scribner buys


In Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Klara and the Sun,’ a robot tries to make sense of humanity

Ishiguro’s first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in 2017 is a delicate, haunting story, steeped in sorrow and hope. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-03-02 16:46:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #first novel #nobel prize #make sense #kazuo ishiguro


This summer: Audiobooks that make you feel like you’re on a vacation

Transporting audiobooks whisk us to Hindu Kush, the Gulf of Mexico and a 17th century pirate ship. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-05-26 06:40:27 UTC ]
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Springer Nature makes 500 textbooks available for free to support higher education

Springer Nature is making a range of "key" textbooks freely accessible for educators, students and academics affected by coronavirus lockdown to help support higher education institutions around the world. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-03 00:06:30 UTC ]
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9 Best Slice-of-Life Manga to Make You Feel Refreshed

When we think of manga, we picture action-packed fantasy stories that feature young teens. But a closer look at the ... Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2019-08-16 10:36:51 UTC ]
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Snapchat is welcoming outside developers, but doesn't want to make the same mistakes as Facebook

Snapchat is opening up to outside developers and apps for the first time in a bid to boost user growth with new features and collaborations. In doing so, the video messaging app is following the footsteps of its rival Facebook, which first welcomed outside developers in 2007. That helped... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘I feel optimistic about the future of news’: Google’s Richard Gingras says the company’s success depends on the health of publishers

Google's vp of news says the company wants to enable the success of news publishers, but that direct payments come with pitfalls. The post ‘I feel optimistic about the future of news’: Google’s Richard Gingras says the company’s success depends on the health of publishers appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Junot Díaz | 'If you tell a child you’re a writer and don’t have a story for them, no one can make you feel more fraudulent'

The critically lauded US author turns his hand to children’s books with a fortuitously timed tale of immigrant experience—and keeps a decades-old promise as a result. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #author turns #junot daz