The fact is: It's true what they say about the United States. It is a land of opportunity. It is too various to get bored with it.

The term 'the American Left' is as near to being meaningless or nonsensical as any term could really be in politics. It isn't really a force in politics anymore. And it would do well to ask itself why that is.

I must have been one of the least surprised people on earth on September 11. I felt very braced for that. I knew something like that was going to come.

At the evident risk of seeming ridiculous, I want to begin by saying that I have tried for much of my life to write as if I was composing my sentences to be read posthumously. I hope this isn't too melodramatic or self-centred a way of saying that I attempt to write as if I did not care what reviewers said, what peers thought, or what prevailing opinions may be.

I don't even like showing my stuff to publishers and editors much.

Ordinary morality is innate in my view.

Forget it. Never explain; never apologize. You can either write posthumously or you can't.