A Visit from the Goon Squad | Jennifer Egan | Talks at Google

TL;DR

In an interview, author Jennifer Egan discusses her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "A Visit from the Goon Squad" and how technology is shaping our perception of time and changing us as readers and writers.

Transcript

Female Interviewer: Please join me in welcoming author and journalist Jennifer Egan to Google Cambridge for today's Authors at Google's event. Her most recent novel A Visit from the Goon Squad is the winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in fiction. It also won LA Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction. She is also th... Read More

Key Insights

• 😉 Winning the Pulitzer Prize has allowed Egan to connect with new readers and expand her audience.
• ⌛ Technology is changing our perception of time and making us more aware of its passing.
• 🎼 Egan explores the impact of technology on storytelling in literature and the music industry.
• 💦 Despite her success, Egan remains focused on the challenge of writing something even better than her previous work.

Questions & Answers

Q: How has winning the Pulitzer Prize affected Jennifer Egan's life as an author?

Egan explains that although she is still surprised by winning the prize, it has given her the opportunity to find new readers and connect with a wider audience for her work.

Q: What is the relationship between the digital age and our perception of time?

Egan suggests that technology has made us more aware of the speed at which time passes due to how quickly it becomes obsolete. This heightened awareness of time may have unexpected effects, such as increased interest in the subject of time among younger readers.

Q: Has Egan considered writing science fiction?

While Egan has not delved deeply into the genre, she mentions a venture into it with a shorter piece that explores the concept of time travel. She acknowledges that technology plays a significant role in shaping her work and finds the question of how technology changes and shapes who we are internally to be intriguing.

Q: Did Egan have to make sacrifices in her writing due to the success of "A Visit from the Goon Squad"?

Egan chose to spend time promoting the book and finding new readers instead of immediately moving on to her next project. She made this choice because she believes such moments of success are rare and wanted to seize the opportunity to maximize the book's reach.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Jennifer Egan talks about her surprise and joy in winning the Pulitzer Prize and how it has changed her life by allowing her to reach more readers.

• She discusses the influence of the digital age on our perception of time and how technology has made us more aware of the speed at which time passes.

• Egan also explores the impact of technology on the music industry, as well as its effect on storytelling in literature.