It's Impossible To Conquer All Fear And

Once You Have Some Sort Of Reputation In The Outside World, They Will Try To Woo You. They Will Say, "won't You Come And Be On A Talk Program About Books? That's Not Political." Then They Can Say To The Outside World, "see How Free It Is, She Appears On Television. See How Free It Is." So I Refused To Have Anything Of Mine Read Or Dramatized On South African Television.

I Decided That I Wanted Nothing To Do With South African Government Television While Any Of My Fellow Writers Were Banned And Couldn't Speak Publicly.

The Primacy Of The Word, Basis Of The Human Psyche, That Has In Our Age Been Used For Mind-bending Persuasion And Brain-washing Pulp, Disgraced By Gobbles And Debased By Advertising Copy, Remains A Force For Freedom That Flies Out Between All Bars.

If You Look At The Recent Nobel Prize Winners, One Couldn't Say That The Work Didn't Matter And The Political Commitment Did. Who Had Ever Heard Of The Egyptian Writer Naguib Mahfouz? He Is Not Politically Involved. Octavio Paz Is A Great Poet, Also Not Politically Involved. The Nobel Prize Is For Literature, For The Quality Of Work Over The Years.

I Have Failed At Many Things, But I Have Never Been Afraid.