Whenever you talk about writing I think you have to remember that it all has a big question mark over it - every word has a big question mark over it.

Nostalgia is, 'Hey, remember the other mall that used to be there?'

If you start with the idea that you are going to be writing about a night in a graveyard, and that there are only a few living people in that frame, all sorts of interesting and difficult technical problems arise. And then form - new form, or experimental form - might be understood as just trying to tell that story most movingly and efficiently.

If a writer understands his work as something that originates with him but then, with any luck, gets away from him, then what he needs is someone who can grasp the potential of the piece and lead him to that higher ground.

It's so ironic that you often hear these right-wing people talking about the Constitution.

Positive human action is not only possible, but pervasive; human beings can improve and choose light and so on. And this is all happening.

Whatever happens, we can deal with it if we admit that it's happening and so on. So to be comfortable with what is - that is a real superpower.