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

I was just reviewed by Robert Gottlieb, who was my editor at 'The New Yorker,' and he sort of wondered at the fact that I still need to exorcise my parents at my age. I think he makes a basic mistake in thinking that exorcism can ever be total. The exorcism of your parents will still be occurring on your own deathbed.

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

All our parents have levels of deviousness. We're driven to write about this discrepancy between the bright shining selves they invented and the monsters lurking underneath.

Oh, save me God, but not quite yet.

I think it's one of the reasons I wrote my book later in life. My parents didn't have these extreme alternations of conduct. They were very sweet to me.

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