I've never seen a worse situation than that of young writers in the United States. The publishing business in North America is so commercialized.

One performs a very different act when reading a movie and when reading a novel. Your attention behaves differently.

I do believe that reading can help you understand what you're writing and see what others are doing. But sometimes the desire for more information can act as an inhibitor.

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.

I haven't been the kind of writer about whom book-length academic studies have been written.

The writer needs to react to his or her own internal universe, to his or her own point of view. If he or she doesn't have a personal point of view, it's impossible to be a creator.

We should try to understand our innermost needs. We shouldn't use irony to reduce their power.