10% Happier with Dan Harris, 8/3/23
“I felt like I was kind of a half person and that if I were someone else, everything would be more vivid and somehow more complete.”
“I felt like I was kind of a half person and that if I were someone else, everything would be more vivid and somehow more complete.”
“‘Grain elevators!” Egan shouted, turning to a random page in the book.”
“I wanted success violently. But my ability just wouldn’t back me up. It just insisted on moving more slowly. And, in retrospect, I have to say I’m really grateful for that.”
“Reading is a form of resistance.”
“I’m more moved by curiosity than pessimism.”
“Fiction has been a greedy grab bag from minute one. . . so if we decide that people are only allowed to do certain things in a form that already is imperiled . . . what are you trying to do, just kill it?”
“All of that motion, that playing with perspective, and above all moving in and out of particular consciousnesses—is fiction’s superpower.”
Watch the Conversation (might be subscribers only)
“If I had to pick one word to describe everything I want to do as a writer and the reason I like to read, it is: fun.”
Would you upload your consciousness to the cloud? Jennifer Egan talks about her new book and social media’s “illusion of authenticity.”
“Fiction is about confronting the mystery and the complexity of human life.”
“The goal is always to keep getting better. That’s what has to happen to stay in it. You have to keep getting better.”
“I’m a big believer in the fact that we all know much more than we realize we know.”
“I had to stop reading Robot Dreams with my young son because I couldn’t repress my grief.”
“Novels are there to entertain readers, period.”
“The Candy House about family, connection, legacy, technology, and so much more. It is her best work yet.”
Jennifer Egan on the value of storytelling in a data-driven world
“I know how hard it is to reach a point where anyone gives a damn what you do.”
“My methodology, such as it is, has amounted to following my curiosity and hoping for the best.”
Egan joins us to discuss storytelling in our online age and why she considers this book an “homage to fiction.”
“I just wonder whether, if I’d been rewarded so heavily as a younger writer, would I have gotten better or would it have stopped me?”
“Dialogue is impossible if no one will let the other person speak.”