摘要：Rilke＇s Orpheus sonnet 27 runs, ＂Does it truly exist： time the destroyer？ / When topples the tower atop the peacefulheight？ / This heart belonging to the gods forever,/When will the demi-urge send it with dire might？＂ And it isprecisely on the destructing force of time that Jennifer Egan constructs her narrative upon. A Visit From the GoonSquad is exactly Orpheus and Eurydice＇s myth revisited, and she focuses on the tragedy of decline in 21 st centuryAmerica. A variety of characters unfulfilled lives conform the map of New York City, and Orpheus lyre hasbecome a rock and roll group, The Conduits, as a sort of misconnecting force in the lives of them all. A carefulliterary distance gives an impressionistic vision of inevitability and opportunity lost. My approach focuses on thedifferent interpretations of the classic myth, and on how Rilke＇s rhetorical questions offer an eclectic and metallicanswer in Jennifer Egan＇s contemporary view.