I wanted to write about the Korean War, but I had no entry into it that made the kind of sense it needs to make for a novelist.

Do not discount the psychic warmth of the hive.

It is 'where we are' that should make all the difference, whether we believe we belong there or not.

I think because of these big issues of life and death that maybe sex feels like a crass question. But for Christ sake, this is a book that is so interested in an elemental human condition. And one of the ideas about surrender is an erotic surrender, too. These folks are surrendered by destiny; they surrender to each other in certain moments, but there is a lot of erotic surrender.

Obviously loss of family is huge and critical, but I think really it's more about losing a sense of family. The horror of that kind of incompleteness. Writing this book, I tried not to think about my father, which does no one any good fictionally. I did try to imagine not just the horror of that moment, but the horror of having witnessed it, and the lifelong void. And I think that's what's so frightening.

As for what's the most challenging aspect of teaching, it's convincing younger writers of the importance of reading widely and passionately.

The past, as you suggest, is absolutely present at all times and the present is born from the past. I wouldn't want to suggest that the past determines the present.