I Think I'm A Shy, Self-conscious Person

In Me, Speaking Psychologically, There Is Always An Ongoing Struggle Between My Enormously Self-regarding, Almost Delusionally Aspirational, Napoleonic Personality And A Marginalized One.

I Have An Enduring, Very Robust Infatuation With Dictators. I Have An Infatuation With Stalin, Mao, And Mussolini. In The Paris Review Interview I Did (in 2013), I Said My Next Book, This One, Was Going To Be About Mussolini. I Wound Up Only Having A Mussolini Cameo In The Book.

When You Are A Child, You Often Stare Too Closely At The Wrong Thing. I Remember The First Time I Was Taken To Yankee Stadium. Someone Had Spilled Something Sweet Earlier In The Day And The Ground Was Covered With Ants. I Spent The Whole Game Staring At The Ants, And That Was More Fascinating Than The Game.

Stand-up Comedy Had An Interesting Effect On Me In Terms Of How I Started To Think About Constructing Things, Because I Really Loved The Interstices, The Linkages, Or Lack Thereof.

Actually What's Worse Than A Dog's Mouth Is A Cat's Mouth. They're Not Dirtier Per Se, But They Have Sharper Teeth, So They Are Much More Likely To Go Deep, Should They Bite You.