I Was No Good At Being A

Novels Arise Out Of The Shortcomings Of History.

I Am A Profound Pessimist Both About Life And About Human Relations And About Politics And Ecology. Humans Are Inadequate And Stupid Creatures Who Sooner Or Later Make A Mess, And Those Who Are Trying To Do Good Do A Lot More Damage Than Those Who Are Muddling Along.

Creative Writing Was Not A Form Of Psychotherapy, In Ways Both Sublime And Ridiculuous, It Clearly Was, Precisely That.

Art Does Not Exist For Politics, Or For Instruction- It Exists Primarily For Pleasure, Or It Is Nothing.

I Grew Up With That Completely Fictive Idea Of Motherhood, Where The Mother Never Strayed From The Kitchen. All The Women In My Books Are Very Afraid That If They Do Anything With Their Minds They Won't Be Complete Women. I Don't Think My Daughters' Generation Has That Feeling.