Shteyngart Interview

SHTEYNGART INTERVIEW

Getting to Know Shteyngart

Lenny=Shteyngart? Maybe A Little...

The main character of the novel is a 40-year old Russian-American male like Shteyngart himself.

He has a Korean-American girlfriend. Shteyngart's wife, Esther Won is of Korean descent.

Lenny enjoys reading actual books in the novel even though it is frowned upon by society. Shteyngart also prefers to read actual books opposed to e-books etc, even though they are "mainstream".

Born on July 5th, 1972 as Igor Shteyngart in Leningrad, USSR.

Comes from a Jewish, but in his words, typical Soviet family.

Him and his family immigrated to the United States in 1979. He was brought up with no tv and since English is not his first language, he did not shed his heavy Russian accent until he was 14.

He currently lives in the Gramercy neighborhood of Manhattan. He's taught writing courses at Hunter College and currently teaches at Columbia University.

Shteyngart's Views on the Future (cont.)

ALL IN ALL

Super Sad True Love Story Us On Steroids?

Super Sad but True Love Story is a fantastical but oddly realistic take on the future. Though it seems the events of the novel have potential to take place in the very NEAR future...

Super Sad True Love Story is an exact reflection as to where Shteyngart thinks our race is headed. Lenny works at Post-Human Services which is a company that helps citizens deemed as "High Net Worth Individuals" cheat death. Which is what Shteyngart fears for the future. He fears that rich people will live longer in the future because only they will have the means to survive.

8:27

Just like the novel speaks to the future, it also speaks volumes of the present. In it humans seem to be obsessed with sex, ranking, and writing, which seems no different than the humans of today. They are also super consumed with their äppärät's which matches the obsession humans have with their smart phones today.

Shteyngart's Views on the Future?

A crucial theme of the novel is technology. Seeing as how the novel takes place in an alternate future where technology has control over the lives of humans.

But isn't that sort of how things are now? Shteyngart believes so, he stated:

"When I first started writing this book in 2006, I would go into a bar and everyone around me would be using a mobile phone. No one would be talking to each other so you could easily see where this was heading."

Essentially meaning that the book wrote itself, all Shteyngart really had to do was exaggerate the already existent behaviors of people today.

When asked what his overlook on the future was, Shteyngart replied with:

"Everything is good and bad. The best thing about the iPhone is this that tells me where I am all the time. There’s never a need to feel lost anymore. Yet on the other hand, that’s bad. If the iPhone is always telling me information, you become very used to being told what to like. You never get lost anymore, and getting lost is a good thing."

This speaks heavily to the dependence on technology of this generation.

He feels that social media and technology itself are simply distractions, and "...the problem is it's getting harder and harder to finish something". Therefore, he has ambivalent feelings about the future and technology.