If he acts, if he doesn't, it's meaningless. The whole thing goes forward. No one is important. No one at all.

One can't say how one behaved or why, really. Such situations, they are far more complex than any either/or proposition. It is simplistic to produce events in pairs and lean them against each other like cards. I suppose if you a playing go or shogi, then such a thing might be helpful, but that is not life.

I don't read books for pleasure, but in desperation.

If Americans are to read something that is difficult, they will only do so supposing they will be admired for having done it.

I'm an elephant today. I will need to have lots of room and also a bowl of water on the floor.

A book can just be a description of a stick being snapped in half. If the reader is brought to feel the plight of the stick, well, you can imagine what that would be like.

I have a different purpose in writing each novel. Some of them seem more similar than others, but the purposes are always different.