I think that if people are instructed about anything, it should be about the nature of cruelty. And about why people behave so cruelly to each other. And what kind of satisfactions they derive from it. And why there is always a cost, and a price to be paid.

If there's an enduring theme in my work, it's probably the effects of class on American life.

Structure is one of the things that I always hope will reveal itself to me.

There are a great many sins in this world, none of them original.

Who but an English professor would threaten to kill a duck a day and hold up a goose as an example?

Ultimately, your theme will find you. You don't have to go looking for it.

When I start getting close to the end of a novel, something registers in the back of my mind for the next novel, so that I usually don't write, or take notes. And I certainly don't begin. I just allow things to percolate for a while.