On category:

“People seem to have two reactions to books. Either they describe what they’re about or they describe how the book made them feel. I’d much rather write the kind of book that inspires someone to describe the way it made them feel. When you’re talking about the book, you’re not referring to an object; you’re referring to an experience.”

On writing:

“The idea of enjoying writing something is foreign to me. I enjoy having written things.”

“I just wouldn’t be interested in a book that didn’t bite off more than it could chew. I’m not interested in successful books. I’m interested in really terrific failures. If a book is a success, it’s closed; it’s done. The experience is complete. It wasn’t reaching for anything that it couldn’t touch. But when a book bites off more than it can chew and shows its seams…”

On characters:

“The vision comes to me in the process of writing, not in advance. I did see this portrait being painted, especially as I got near the end of the book, but I couldn’t say that it was what I intended.”

“It’s a weird property of fiction, and I think of all art, particularly visual arts: The thing itself isn’t necessarily best at evoking itself.”

“One thing, for example: I remember speaking to an older writer about naming characters. I said I thought about it as I went or as I was nearing the end of the book, because, when I decide, I’ll just do a search and replace. There’s no reason to stress out about it. But if you’re writing by hand, it actually is a very big deal.”

On reading and youth:

“These are people that have been left behind by contemporary literature. They read Harry Potter because that’s what they’re given, and it’s all they’re given. If they were given The Corrections, they would read it. To say that The Corrections is written at the high school level… We’re used to thinking of that as a belittlement, but it’s not. It’s a tremendous compliment that a serious work of literature could be accessible to that age group, and I’m absolutely sure it would be.”

“Unfortunately, I feel like the literary culture waits for the world to come to it. It’s a very top-down business. You put an ad in the New York Times, and you hope it trickles down, as opposed to what computer game manufacturers do, which is bottom-up. They find lots of kids, they make what almost amounts to a political campaign. They make sure that everybody knows.”

Read the interview here.

photo credit: Chris Maluszynski /MOMENT via