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 ]
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Verity Laughton’s stage adaptation of Pip Williams’ best-selling book is a a very clever realisation. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2023-09-28 05:05:12 UTC ]
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Solid-selling new books, including the new biography of Elon Musk, weren't enough to stop unit sales of print books from falling 5.7% last week from the comparable week in 2022. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
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“What are we willing to fight for? What do we deserve, morally speaking? What is our place, our relationship with the universe, with nature?”During a preview of The Talos Principle 2 in August, series writer Jonas Kyratzes posed 19 questions about the essence of humanity in just 90 seconds.... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-09-19 16:00:14 UTC ]
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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. * To celebrate the release of her... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-19 08:35:25 UTC ]
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Quests are a true bedrock of fantasy: the hero’s journey, the wandering hero. From Odysseus to Gawain, to Don Quixote to Bilbo Baggins, to Genly Ai to Geralt of Rivia. Generally a male-coded trope, episodic in format. When I began turning the concept of Godkiller over in my head, I knew I wanted... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-15 08:30:21 UTC ]
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At a GlanceExpert's Rating ProsEasy to useSupports 12 simultaneous devicesDecent for streamingConsInterface feels outdatedSmall list of available serversPricey for the features offeredOur VerdictStrongVPN doesn’t have the largest server list, nor does it offer a very extensive feature set.... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2023-09-13 14:30:00 UTC ]
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This year's Small Press Expo Ignatz Awards struck a note of solidarity and defiance against censorship. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Take a fun quiz about things that scare you and receive a great book recommendation to scare you even more! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-31 10:37:00 UTC ]
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A library card is one of the most useful things you can have in your wallet. Libby offers free access to ebooks and audiobooks if you have a supported library card (some 90 percent of public libraries in North America now use OverDrive's app). Not only that, you can also use Libby to read a host... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-28 17:00:30 UTC ]
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David L. Craddock's recent book about the game reveals the massive amount of effort it took to develop the game. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2023-08-26 14:23:52 UTC ]
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Drew Gilpin Faust, former Harvard University president, discusses her memoir “Necessary Trouble,” about her rebellion against sexist and racist strictures of 1950s Virginia. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-08-22 16:11:00 UTC ]
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A federal judge has agreed with US government officials that a piece of artificial intelligence-generated art isn't eligible for copyright protection in the country since there was no human authorship involved. "Copyright has never stretched so far [...] as to protect works generated by new... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-21 15:00:33 UTC ]
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Newly unsealed court filings reveal how much data Xwitter has handed over to the January 6 investigation. This includes all tweets sent, drafted, liked and retweeted – even if they were subsequently deleted – by Donald Trump’s official account. This cache also included DMs sent, received or... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-17 11:15:13 UTC ]
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The joint conference from NAIBA and SIBA leapt off the screen into the real world for the first time from August 7–10 in Arlington, Va., where 278 booksellers gathered to prepare for what will hopefully be a strong fall selling season. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Edinburgh Evening News and Yorkshire Evening Post owner is ‘possible participant’ in sale, despite strike ballot and staff exodusA local newspaper publisher facing a staff exodus and a strike ballot over low pay has announced it is considering a bid for the Daily Telegraph.National World, which... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-08-10 12:57:44 UTC ]
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With the pending retirement of three veteran editors, Viking Penguin has promoted seven editors to new roles and hired Seema Mahanian as senior editor at Pamela Dorman Books. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Ashley Wurzbacher’s debut novel How To Care for a Human Girl jumps with both feet into the debate over reproductive rights. When two sisters find themselves pregnant not long after their mother’s death, Jada choses an abortion, while Maddie drifts into the sticky embrace of a crisis pregnancy... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-08-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Seasoned author and writing mentor Beth Kempton shares 10 books that will improve your craft. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter’s rebrand to X is well underway. The name and iconic bird logo have been (mostly) stripped from the company’s San Francisco headquarters, and an “X” has replaced the blue bird atop twitter.com. Elon Musk has said the change is about more than just the name. He wants to turn the service... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-07-25 23:39:14 UTC ]
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Interconnected Ecologies: A Conversation with Kathryn Savage, by Jennifer Croft Interviews [email protected] Wed, 07/19/2023 - 13:29 Kathryn Savage / Photo by Melissa LukenbaughKathryn Savage’s Groundglass (Coffee House Press, 2022) explores the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-07-19 18:29:25 UTC ]
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