Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Sittenfeld probably wouldnt object to the comparison.
In 2016, she wrote a retelling ofPride & Prejudice, for a series of Austen updates.
Its an appropriate arc for the social media era: a tale that cautions against snap judgements.
A character whos smart but wrong?
To me, thats super interesting.Youve published five novels.
From the time I was 5 or 6, until I was 25.
And I read a lot of stories during that time.
So, I just got on a novel track.
Ten or 12 years passed.
Then in 2016, my novelEligiblecame out.
It was my fifth novel, a modern retelling ofPride and Prejudice.
I went on a little book tour.
So I wrote this story that I called Gender Studies, and I submitted it toThe New Yorker.
All these stories that I had been saving up all these years kind of came pouring out of me.
A couple of the stories are from before the deluge.
There was one story thats from 2015.
Theres three from the past, and then seven that I wrote from June 2016 to March 2017.
For Gender Studies, I wrote that story in May and June of 2016.
People have said to me, oh, its a political allegory, and I think, sure.
The political stuff is definitely there.
I would say, a woman loses her drivers license.
The story Do Over was probably more directly influenced by the election.
I wrote it in March-ish 2017.
I wouldnt say, its a story about people interacting under the Trump presidency.
I never write something and consciously embed political commentary or any other kind of commentary.
Im interested in Do Over, and why you chose the character you chose to follow around.
Hes not a Trump voter but hes at least ambivalent about Hillary.
I feel like Ive encountered well, not tons of men like that but, you know, some.
Theyre very polite, but then maybe the more defensive they feel, the less polite they are?
It wasnt a conscious choice.
But it ends up being two brothers who go for this morning run.
I can see both sides of the argument.
I kind of agree and disagree with both of them.
But I actually think it makes the fiction better.
Theyve made one character charming, and one abhorrent.
In life, its much more interesting to have ambivalence about a person than to just think theyre detestable.
It seemed to me that several of the stories address misinformation and false judgements.
Its just interesting in life that intelligent people can be wrong about a lot of things.
Including, and maybe especially, situations and people close to them.
Thats a real phenomenon.
Life is very confusing.
I sometimes think that people who think it isnt are kidding themselves.
Human behavior is complicated, and life is complicated, and families are complicated.
A character whos very smart and always right in her judgement is kind of boring.
But a character whos smart but wrong?
To me, thats super interesting.
You graduated from boarding school 25 years ago.
Give it a rest.
There are times when I think I might write aPrepsequel.
Its funny because actually my editor of all people discouraged me.
She was kind of like, you might just want to leavePrepalone.
But if I returned toPrep, the main character would not be a current student anymore.
Itd be examining some of the same subject matter from a different angle.
You mentioned that youd never write with an issue like class consciously on the brain.
Motherhood parenthood is an interesting experience especially people who have children at older ages.
It just brings out some kind of animal instincts, and some confusion.
Stuff thats not that great in real life, but its great for fiction.
Are you very involved?I think Ill be somewhat involved.
The person who is developing it is a woman who will be the showrunner, Colleen McGinnis.
At this point, its been pretty informal.
Are you excited about the casting choice?Im delighted.
*This article originally misstated the title of the book.
We regret the error.
