Being alone for a woman is probably much more scary than for a man. I'm all for getting over our fears by facing them head-on.

In my books, my idea is always to explore social context and social forces.

Being alone for a woman is probably much more scary than for a man. I'm all for getting over our fears by facing them head-on.

Ever since Freud, being alone has been considered something of a psychological failure. The point, according to Freudian theory, is to be able to love and connect. But I don't believe that at all. I think that being alone and being coupled and being in a group are all natural states in which people can thrive.

I did not intend to be a writer. I first wanted to be a lawyer, like my father. Then I got bit by the bug of philosophy and wanted to be a philosophy professor. I went to graduate school and quickly discovered it was impossible for a woman in those days - this was the early fifties - to be a philosopher, so I gave that up.

I am a feminist. I'm trying to show the relationships between men and women, always the structural relations, not individual villains. I'd never make a husband a villain. I try very hard in my work not to - because if I made one man a villain, the rest would be off the hook. I'm interested in the system of oppression.

For many decades my relations with my parents constituted unfinished business. I had dealt with them through sheer avoidance and guilt.