Rebels defy the rules of society, risking everything to retain their humanity. If the world Atwood depicts is chilling, if 'God is losing,' the only hope for optimism is a vision that includes the inevitability of human struggle against the prevailing order.

A lot of artists don't survive, do they? You work very hard and finally you get what you want and it destroys you.

Jack Kerouac did what he most wanted to do. He wrote great prose. He became the writer he wanted to be.

Nothing ever happened except God.

If you want to do creative work, there are tremendous sacrifices involved, and tremendous financial sacrifices too. It requires dedication and solitude.

I believe in the curative powers of love as the English believe in tea or Catholics believe in the Miracle of Lourdes.

Everyone knew in the 1950s why a girl from a nice family left home. The meaning of her theft of herself from her parents was clear to all - as well as what she'd be up to in that room of her own.