I Think My Mother Was

The Imagination Demands That Life Be Told Slant Because Of Its Need Of Distance.

I've Never Written Anything That Hasn't Been In My Mind For A Long Time - Seven Or Eight Years.

I Think Technique Can Be Taught But I Think The Only Way To Learn To Write Is To Read, And I See Writing And Reading As Completely Related. One Almost Couldn't Exist Without The Other.

Nothing Ever Holds Together Unless It Is Mixed With Some Of One's Own Blood

Without The Book Business It Would Be Difficult Or Impossible For True Books To Find Their True Readers And Without That Solitary (and Potentially Subversive) Alone With A Book The Whole Razzmatazz Of Prizes, Banquets, Television Spectaculars, Bestseller Lists, Even Literature Courses, Editors And Authors, Are All Worthless. Unless A Book Finds Lovers Among Those Solitary Readers, It Will Not Live . . . Or Live For Long.