If any art form can accommodate contemporary culture, it's the novel. It's so malleable - it can incorporate essays, poetry, film. Maybe the challenge for the novelist is to stretch his art and his language, to the point where it can finally describe what's happening around him.

Brilliant people never think of the lives they smash, being brilliant.

Look past the violence. There is a wonderful brimming spirit of innocence and fun.

Writing is a concentrated form of thinking.

days like this. i look at you and feel electric. tell me you don't feel it too."_Eric Packer

I marched and I protested against the war in Vietnam, along with many, many thousands of others. But I never quite understood the bombs that were placed in science labs or office buildings.

Do people still shoot at presidents? I thought there were more stimulating targets.' (20)