I'm Not As Hopeful As I Was

Every Novelist Has A Different Purpose-and Often Several Purposes Which Might Even Be Contradictory.

My Favorite Short-story Writer Is John Cheever

The Romantic Idea Is That Everybody Around A Writer Must Suffer For His Talent. I Think A Writer Is A Citizen Of Humanity, Part Of His Nation, Part Of His Family. He May Have To Make Some Compromises.

I Look At Everything. God Gave Me Eyes And I Look At Women And Men And Subway Excavations And Moving Pictures And The Little Flowers Of The Field. I Casually Inspect The Universe.

In America, We Have The Feeling Of The Doomed Young Artist. Fitzgerald Was The Great Example Of That.