I can't pretend that I did one really awful thing - I took a bite out of the apple but now I'm never going to sin again.

There are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally.

You have to be a minor superhero just to get to be a dignified man, and that's kind of exacerbated for men of color.

If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?

I don't tell everything. I want the reader to have the feeling that maybe they know the whole truth, but they don't.

I really love James Joyce, Dubliners and other work. And I was interested in the way the dash was used in English topography - in his work particularly - and I realized there was no compulsion to use those ugly dot-dot curlicues all over the place to designate dialogue. I began to look around, and found writers who could make transitions quite clear by the language itself. I'm a bit of a maverick now. I'm always trying to push the medium.

Books are an attempt to control something that's uncontrollable. That's one of the beauties of African American life. There was this thing called slavery and adjustments were made. It literally destroyed millions, but it didn't destroy the inner lives of all the people who experienced it. There are still horrible things that go on because of the myth of race, but we don't have to succumb totally. If I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?