Kafka wrote the great line: "my education has damaged me in ways I do not even know." And that's always been a signature motto for me.

I think it's very hard to reconcile oneself to the notion that it may not matter what you think if you still want to write.

People, no matter the economic class, find ways to feed their narcissism.

I think about material that could work in the novel or story as I'm writing. I see if I can get there through what's happening with the character. But it's by inclination. It's not "At this moment this will happen." Usually with my characters you can't tell what has induced them to do anything. That's because, from my understanding of reality - which is always subjective - everything is overdetermined.

I'm interested in reality but I'm not interested in realism at all.

I don't believe a picture is worth a thousand words, unless they're very confusing words.

People in the upper classes can just as easily be indifferent to their own body, or treat themselves as badly, as people who don't have the money. There are always differences among differences.