There’s Something Really Rich And Powerful In

Have I Mentioned That I Expect Death Around Every Turn, That Every Blue Sky Has A Safe Sailing Out Of It, That Every Bus Runs Me Over, That Every Low, Mean Syllable Uttered In My Direction Seems To Intimate The Violence Of Murder, That Every Family Seems Like An Opportunity For Ruin And Every Marriage A Ceremony Into Which Calamity Will Fall And Hearts Will Be Broken And Lives Destroyed And People Branded By The Mortifications Of Love?

People Know That Pain Is Part Of Our Nature, That It Cannot Be Avoided And That It Should Not Be Avoided. But Capitalism In This Country Is Focused On The Idea 1) That Life Can And Should Be Absolutely Beautiful; 2) That Beauty Can Be Defined According To An Ironclad Objective Standard; 3) That Beauty Can Be Held Onto Forever If Only You Do The Right Things Perfectly Enough; And 4) That It Can Be Purchased.

But That Incessant Drive To Be Out There In The Literary Universe That Was Important To Me When I Was In My Twenties, Like Going To A Paris Review Party Or Whatever, That Seems Totally Irrelevant Now.

I Always Feel I Have Made Unfilmable Books. I Even Felt That Way About A Book Of Mine That Was Later Made Into A Movie. But My Wife, Who Has Made Two Films, Thinks This One Would Make A Very Original Film. I'm All For Original Films.

Genre Is A Bookstore Problem, Not A Literary Problem.