I've had a tough time with Pynchon. I liked him very much when I first read him. I liked him less with each book. He got denser and more complex in a way that didn't really pay off.

I like that people who are not experts can not only understand but get engaged by my work. I like that Joe Paterno can read me. Bill Bradley.

The reason Saul Bellow doesn't talk to me anymore is because he knows his new novels are not worth reading.

All good criticism should be judged the way art is. You shouldn't read it the way you read history or science.

The novel doesn't come into existence until certain methods of reproducing fiction come along.

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.

I long for the raised voice, the howl of rage or love.