I like big doses of grief when I read: Richard Yates, Flannery O'Connor, Kenzabaro Oe, Thomas Bernhard.
Ben MarcusIt amazes me that parents are allowed to raise kids. There's so much power and often very little accountability.
Ben MarcusTeaching is all armchair. I learn about writing by writing and thinking about what I've written and throwing it away.
Ben MarcusMostly we're motivated to control ourselves in public. Mostly. At home the motivation is much less clear. At home there's a bit of a lab for bad behavior. You can test things out without terrible consequences. Or maybe the consequences are there, but they are deferred, buried, much harder to detect.
Ben Marcus