The Joy Of Working At

Crassly Put: When I Write, I Am Trying Not To Bore Myself And My Readers.

I Grew Up In Ohio, Where Civil-rights Accomplishments Had Already Begun To Accelerate Before Martin Luther King Appeared. In Hindsight, We Know That Many People, Black And White, Were Instrumental In Changing The Jim Crow Status Quo On All Levels.

I Thought, After The Pulitzer, At Least Nothing Will Surprise Me Quite That Much In My Life. And Another One Happened. It Was Quite Amazing.

For Years, I Had Heard About The Lack Of Interest In Literature In The U.s. And I Had Complained About The Lack Of Respect Artists Got Here. In My Heart, I Failed To Understand How People Could Fail To Be Moved By Art.

I Was Not Interested In Doing The Plot Of Oedipus In Blackface. I Did Wonder, What Would These People Have Been Like If They Hadn't Been In That Situation?... One Could Look At Oedipus, Or At My Character Augustus, As A Cynical Schemer Who Did Everything Because He Was Hungry For Power. But That's Just Too Easy. I'm More Interested In How Humans Can Embody Conflicting Goals And Emotions.