My assignment is what every writer's assignment is: tell the truth of his own time.

Cooper wrote a novel which is absolutely indistinguishable from Austen, completely from a female point of view, completely English, no sense that he was an American.

The black situation has changed. They finally realized they're Americans.

Critics? How do they happen? I know how it happened to me. I would send a poem or story to a magazine and they would say this doesn't suit our needs precisely but on the other hand you sound interesting. Would you be interested in doing a review?

Hemingway seems to be in a funny position. People nowadays can't identify with him closely as a member of their own generation, and he isn't yet historical.

I never met anybody in my life who says, I want to be a critic. People want to be a fireman, poet, novelist.

One more recent novelist to come along is Cormac McCarthy. Him, I like.