I had the very good fortune to hear Jennifer Egan speak last night. She is such an engaging and articulate speaker, I think the sold out crowd in attendance was as riveted as I was by her talk. I'm not surprised, however, as I am thoroughly enjoying her most recent novel, Manhattan Beach, with which I am about halfway finished. I had hoped to have it read before her talk, but now I don't mind as hearing the backstory will only enhance the second half of my reading.
I wish I had taken notes as she covered quite a lot of ground and shared images from her research and experiences writing the story. Interestingly, when writing her first draft is composed by longhand and she mostly just wants to get the story out in whatever form it takes and however poorly she thinks it is written. It is not until she begins her revisions that she begins to shape it and make the story flow.
She spent five years doing research for this book, but she was also working on other projects. She is a New Yorker and did extensive research on the WWII period. I think it was, at least in part, going through September 11, where living in the city felt like they had gone through a war that she began to wonder what it really was like for New Yorkers living through the fear of being invaded and bombed. Also, though she has been living in the city for a long time she had not thought much about it being a port city, but of course that was the reason it was built where it is now. She spent a lot of time looking at the buildings that made up the Naval Shipyard and spent time looking a photographs of the era and researching the Brooklyn Historical Society for pertinent information. It must, at the time, have felt like a small city within the city. There were thousands working for the war effort and no small number were women.
She speaks so eloquently and with a passion for her work and the importance of literature. It was a pleasure to hear her speak and see how she engaged with the audiences answering questions thoughtfully and with great detail. Apparently she is now at work on a new book, which is related to A Visit from the Goon Squad. I am not sure it is meant to be a sequel (I have yet to read it), but she referred to that previous book. I guess I know which book I will be picking up very soon.
I really enjoy these type of lecture series and wish there were more of them here. I know there is something in the works for the fall, though now I don't recall who the speaker is, but in February of next year Alan Lightman will be here, so that is tucked away in the back of my mind. For now, though, I will be spending time with Anna in the Naval Shipyard, where she is learning to dive as part of her war work.