As to why people like Joseph Lelyveld are writing memoirs, I think they're just catching on the coattails of the trend.

We write out of revenge against reality, to dream and enter the lives of others.

I didn't find this memoir of these two eccentric people so different from doing my memoirs of De Sade or Simone Weil. My parents in their own way are as odd as Sade.

Only friends will tell you the truths you need to hear to make your life bearable.

The choice between starving and being eaten is an exotic one.

The act of nutrition is not a purely physiological event... The family meal is a formality that cultivates in us... a capacity for sharing, generosity, thoughtfulness, a talent for civilized conversation.

Like most writers I know, I love being on stage. I’ve sublimated the dramatic urge by teaching and by making people laugh.