I think writers rush in where everybody is very frightened to tread

I don't have any style.

American literature had always considered writing a very serious matter

I don't much believe in the idea of characters. I write with words, that is all. Whether those words are put in the mouth of this or that character does not matter to me

I describe my works as books, but my publishers in Spain, in the United States, and elsewhere insist on calling them novels

I know that many writers have had to write under censorship and yet produced good novels; for instance, Cervantes wrote Don Quixote under Catholic censorship.

Writing for me, even what you call serious writing, is play.