Colum McCann on Undersea Cables and His New Novel "Twist"

0 Ratings
0
Episode
537 of 546
Duration
37min
Language
English
Format
Category
Non-fiction

In his new novel, “Twist,” the National Book Award-winning Irish writer Colum McCann tells the story of a journalist deep at sea in more ways then one: A man adrift, he accepts a magazine assignment to write about the crews who maintain and repair the undersea cables that transmit all of the world’s information. Naturally, the assignment becomes more treacherous and psychologically fraught than he had anticipated. On this week’s episode, McCann tells host Gilbert Cruz how he became interested in the topic of information cables and why the story resonated for him at multiple levels.

“Now, I don’t know if the novel is prescient in any way. I wanted to talk about repair. And when I got deep into the subject, I did talk about repair — which is, human repair or actual repair of a cable. But I also ended up talking about sabotage, too. And the sabotage of these cables is something that has to be on our minds.”

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.


Listen and read

Step into an infinite world of stories

  • Read and listen as much as you want
  • Over 1 million titles
  • Exclusive titles + Storytel Originals
  • 14 days free trial, then €9.99/month
  • Easy to cancel anytime
Try for free
Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

Other podcasts you might like ...