I've Had A Tough Time With Pynchon.

The Black Situation Has Changed. They Finally Realized They're Americans.

Critics? How Do They Happen? I Know How It Happened To Me. I Would Send A Poem Or Story To A Magazine And They Would Say This Doesn't Suit Our Needs Precisely But On The Other Hand You Sound Interesting. Would You Be Interested In Doing A Review?

My Assignment Is What Every Writer's Assignment Is: Tell The Truth Of His Own Time.

There Are Things In American Culture That Want To Wipe The Class Distinction. Blue Jeans. Ready-made Clothes. Coca-cola.

There Is A Place In Men's Lives Where Pictures Do In Fact Bleed, Ghosts Gibber And Shriek, Maidens Run Forever Through Mysterious Landscapes From Nameless Foes; That Place Is, Of Course, The World Of Dreams And Of The Repressed Guilts And Fears That Motivate Them [i.e., The Unconscious]. This World The Dogmatic Optimism And Shallow Psychology Of The Age Of Reason Had Denied; And Yet This World It Is The Final, Perhaps The Essential, Purpose Of The Gothic Romance To Assert.