Foucault was the one person I met in France that I could talk to. He was a mensch. You know whether you agree with him or not because you know what he is saying.

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.

Raymond Carver is good. I think he'll be appreciated more and more. He's an easy writer to imitate.

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

Saul Bellow never took my advice when he was my friend.

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

I admire Ginsberg as a poet, despite the fact that he seems not to know when he is being good and when he is bad. But he will last, or at least those poems will last.