Contrary To What People Think, I Slave

I Do Believe That Everyone Growing Up Faces Differential Opportunities. With Me, It Was Books And Travel And Some Good Teachers.

I Don’t Know Who My Parents Were. I Know Nothing About My Inheritance. I Could Be Jewish; I Could Be Part Negro; I Could Be Irish; I Could Be Russian. I Am Spiritually A Mix Anyway, But I Did Have A Solid Childhood Fortunately, Because Of Some Wonderful Women Who Brought Me Up. I Never Had A Father Or A Man In The House, And That Was A Loss...

I Was Brought Up In The Great Tradition Of The Late Nineteenth Century: That A Writer Never Complains, Never Explains And Never Disdains.

Millions Upon Millions Of Years Ago, When The Continents Were Already Formed And The Principal Features Of The Earth Had Been Decided, There Existed, Then As Now, One Aspect Of The World That Dwarfed All Other ... A Mighty Ocean, Resting Uneasily To The East Of The Largest Continent, A Restless Ever-changing, Gigantic Body Of Water That Would Later Be Described As Pacific.

The Arrogance Of The Artist Is A Very Profound Thing, And It Fortifies You.