When you are sixteen you do not know what your parents know, or much of what they understand, and less of what's in their hearts. This can save you from becoming an adult too early, save your life from becoming only theirs lived over again--which is a loss. But to shield yourself--as I didn't do--seems to be an even greater error, since what's lost is the truth of your parents' life and what you should think about it, and beyond that, how you should estimate the world you are about to live in.

I've been mainly a happy boy in my life. I married the right girl and we did what we wanted to do.

At heart, of course, a story itself is consolation's instrument.

Until you can become accountable to yourself and only yourself, you're probably not going to live a fully vital life. So much of literature is about accountability. The moral issues in most novels are about people becoming responsible for their own behaviour. One of the forces against being responsible for your own behaviour is the force of the past, in the way that the past tries to form you.

She was an artist. She held opposites in her mind.

I wouldn't be a very good writer if someone hadn't taught me how to read.

The world is a more engaging and less dramatic place than writers ever give it credit for being