Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Condition of Mr. Segundo: Dismissive of Michael Martone.
Subjects Discussed: San Francisco vs. New York, time-shifting as style, invention as experimentalism, the importance of critics (James Wood, B.R. Myers, Sven Birkets), responding to John Updike’s review, visual elements, designing Extremely Loud in Word, the use of conceptual red ink, the post-9/11 novel, United 93, making the 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers, public perception, Foer’s side of the Deborah Solomon article, interviews, the real-life inspiration for Mr. Black, Burgess’s Earthly Powers, Bertolucci’s 1900, the influence of photographs upon the text, Joseph Cornell, numbers, -ologists, “…until that day…,” Stephen Hawking, Billy Joel, laughing in the face of tragedy, the “purity” of children, and creative acts.
Great stuff. But can you beat “Joyce Carol Oates’ Jewish mother’s wet dream. ” And you forgot: “Used to get beat up in Hebrew School”
I tried unsuccessfully to hear this earlier in the day. The audio only works at great intervals.