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10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Jennifer Egan
I write by hand--usually one long draft that I scribble out quickly (5-10 pages a day) and poorly. I do this almost completely from the gut, with very little sense of where I'm going. It's often in the process of this almost unconscious writing that I discover characters and action. When the first draft is done, I type it into the computer (the parts I can read anyway; I have wretched handwriting) and see what I've got. Not a word of that first draft usually makes it anywhere near the final draft--which, in the case of some chapters of Look at Me, my last novel, was sixty to seventy drafts later. I edit by hand on a hard copy, then type in the changes and print it out again for further editing. The writing itself always remains instinctive, but there is a strong analytical counterpart, when I figure out what I'm doing in terms of plot, characters, thematic underpinnings, and then scheme about how I can do it better. I save every draft until a book is done; a towering pile of paper that I eventually, joyfully, recycle.
Q: Some of the most powerful (and terrifying) moments in the book deal with claustrophobia. Are you claustrophobic?
A: I almost never write about myself, or things that have happened in my own life, or about people I know. I like to make all of it up--or at least, I think I'm making it up, until later I realize how much of my own experience has crept into my books, disguised even from me. For example: I'm not claustrophobic, but I've certainly been paranoid, and the two are closely linked. I wanted to capture the way that paranoia (like claustrophobia) can instantly turn a benign environment into an unmitigated nightmare. One question is always at the center of such experiences: is this real, or am I making it up? We live in very paranoid times. I was interested in the way paranoia can make someone turn threatening and aggressive in exactly the ways they perceive the world to be. They become the very monster they fear.
Q: What author/s have inspired you?
A: In the big, long-term ways: Lawrence Sterne, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Emile Zola, George Eliot, Robert Stone, Don DeLillo, Jean Rhys.
For The Keep, the list is slightly different. There are some fantastic (and totally insane) Gothic novels that I had a ball reading: Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer, Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho, Matthew Lewis's The Monk--those are all 18th century books--and then from the 19th century, Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, which is an absolutely drop-dead great thriller.
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. New Yorker Danny is running from something. A loner who cannot bear to be apart from his Wi-Fi connection, he is in need of refuge. His cousin Howie is an enigmatic and successful former drug addict who just happens to own a castle. As they turn the castle from crumbling ruin to luxury hotel, Howie and Danny must navigate their uncomfortable relationship. And the castle has some surprises of its own: a sinister baroness, a tragic accident in a fathomless pool, a treacherous labyrinth, and through all of this, a story within a story . . . An unnerving, haunting and unforgiving tale of modern life and modern man, the novel before A Visit from the Goon Squad is filled with Egan's breathtaking style and remarkable voice. A spellbinding work of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Jennifer Egan. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780349120447
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780349120447
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. A spellbinding work of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Jennifer Egan. Seller Inventory # B9780349120447
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 256 pages. 7.72x4.96x0.71 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0349120447
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Book Description Condition: New. 2008. Digital original. Paperback. A spellbinding work of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Jennifer Egan. Num Pages: 256 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 202 x 140 x 16. Weight in Grams: 178. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780349120447
Book Description Condition: New. 2008. Digital original. Paperback. A spellbinding work of literary suspense from National Book Award finalist Jennifer Egan. Num Pages: 256 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 202 x 140 x 16. Weight in Grams: 178. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780349120447