A few months ago, drafting my response to a questionnaire in advance of an upcoming interview in connection with Caroline, I wrote the phrase “fiction’s ghetto.” Here’s the question and my original answer: Q: Do you have a target reader? A:
Literature
Tribalism in Amber
1 I like to believe I have fought through most, even all, of the prejudices I’ve held in the past. However, prejudice can be like a virus that keeps adapting and renewing itself. 2 Ignorant of Ireland’s history, I arrived in America from England
Young at Heart
“The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.” That’s the Lord Henry Wotton character speaking in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey. I think of my father who, as he approached ninety, insisted he felt no different
Magic Moment
One serene early spring evening, I was walking with my white cane on a path through the Amherst College campus when I encountered the author, Robert Stone. I was taking a course of his, albeit not for credit and I’d never spoken a word in class. It
Empathy
Thursday evening two weeks ago, I had an upsetting experience with my writers' group. No one said anything deliberately hurtful, and there was no horrible argument. The members are generous in spirit and with their constructive comments. I didn't
The Headmaster’s Letter
I have just learned of a touching act of generosity by the headmaster of a school I attended long ago. For logistical reasons, and possibly also for cultural ones, it would be neither possible nor needed today. In July 1967, I completed my second