I believe that people who don't achieve anything in life are isolated and resent those that are successful.

My stories are very somber, so I think I need the comic ingredient. Besides, life has so much humor.

I began teaching in New York because I needed to stay in the United States and didn't have my immigration papers in order, so working for a university was a way of resolving the issue.

Ironically, Latin American countries, in their instability, give writers and intellectuals the hope that they are needed.

For someone who writes fiction, in order to activate the imagination and the unconscious, it's essential to be free.

All of my problems are rather complicated - I need an entire novel to deal with them, not a short story or a movie. It's like a personal therapy.

I didn't choose literature. Literature chose me. There was no decision on my side.