Great Writing Can Be Done In Biography,

I Wish My Prose To Be Transparent—i Don't Want The Reader To Stumble Over Me; I Want Him To Look Through What I'm Saying To What I'm Describing. I Don't Want Him Ever To Say, Oh, Goodness, How Nicely Written This Is. That Would Be A Failure.

It's Very Attractive To People To Be A Victim. Instead Of Having To Think Out The Whole Situation, About History And Your Group And What You Are Doing... If You Begin From The Point Of View Of Being A Victim, You've Got It Half-made. I Mean Intellectually.

If Writers Just Sit And Talk About Oppression, They Are Not Going To Do Much Writing.

I Really Wasn't Equipped To Be A Writer When I Left Oxford. But Then I Set Out To Learn. I've Always Had The Highest Regard For The Craft. I've Always Felt It Was Work.

Whenever I Have Had To Write Fiction, I've Always Had To Invent A Character Who Roughly Has My Background.