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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A novel banned by the Chinese government has made the longlist for the Independent Foreign... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Freedom' author Jonathan Franzen, who has previously disparaged Facebook and ebooks, says Twitter 'stands for everything I oppose' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic's Storia reading app includes many children's titles previously unavailable in ebook format Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French booksellers are cautiously optimistic that their margins will not be squeezed when VAT on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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When I interviewed entrepreneur and author Guy Kawasaki recently, I chatted with him at great lengths about his Twitter publishing habits. Take a look at his feed, and every few minutes you'll see a new post, from why videos go viral to Playboy's plans for a strip club. With so much tweeting, I... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Among the many goodies Nokia unveiled in its presser at MWC 2012 is a new hub for consuming your favorite written content. Called Nokia Reading, it brings your news feeds, ebooks, and audio books together in a unified, digital magazine-like format that can be accessed on- or offline. The app... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The official Twitter app has just received an update on iOS and Android, bringing new features to both platforms, plus an "optimized" Ice Cream Sandwich experience as seen above. The app is also currently available on Amazon's Appstore for the Kindle Fire now, and the company says it will pop up... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A regional NSW company that was on track to becoming extinct has emerged as a global digital photo printing powerhouse, selling $20 Facebook photo books to customers in over 80 countries including Afghanistan. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2012-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a time when digital and print-on-demand technology are streamlining how books are created and delivered, Paravion Press believes there still is a market for well-crafted, hand-made books. “Paravion hopes to keep hold of a patch of turf for the old guard of the printed book—the realm of the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Adrian Sykes, with his publisher David Campbell, of Everyman's Library, is to donate a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fnac, the leading French cultural products chain, will lay off 510 of its 17,000 staff and may... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An "unprecedented" seven novels have been shortlisted for the 2011 Man Asian Literary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Orbit has acquired a standalone novel by Michael Cobley, author of the space opera trilogy... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A man has been arrested and bailed in connection with a £1.9m fraud alleged to have taken... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Health and fitness publisher Rodale is bringing in a new executive to oversee the digital division it created as part of October's shakeup. Former Barnes & Noble GM Anthony Astarita will become Rodale's general manager of digital and new brand development, one of three divisions CEO Maria... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The HMV Group made a profit of £11.5m from the sale of book chain Waterstone's, but the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The History Press is in consultation with a "small number" of staff over redundancies,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The term content licensing is an ambiguous one, especially among publishers. Some consider reprints and e-prints to be a full-fledged content licensing operation; while others leasing out logos and awards for third-party use count it as their content licensing service. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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