As Failures Go, Attempting To Recall The

It Would Be Enough For Me To Have The System Of A Jury Of Twelve Versus The System Of One Judge As A Basis For Preferring The U.s. To The Soviet Union. I Would Prefer The Country You Can Leave To The Country You Cannot.

Language And, Presumably, Literature Are More Ancient And Inevitable, More Durable Than Any Form Of Social Organization. The Revulsion, Irony, Or Indifference Often Expressed By Literature Toward The State Is Essentially The Reaction Of The Permanent-better Yet, The Infinite-against The Temporary, Against The Finite.

I'm A Bad Jew, A Bad Russian, A Bad Everything.

I Don't Believe In That Country Any Longer. I'm Not Interested. I'm Writing In The Language, And I Like The Language.

As Failures Go, Attempting To Recall The Past Is Like Trying To Grasp The Meaning Of Existence. Both Make One Feel Like A Baby Clutching At A Basketball: One's Palms Keep Sliding Off.