American Idol

You’ve had a long career. Are there any particular milestones?

Evident milestones would be the National Book Award in 1970 for my novel Them, election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1978, and (in a more personal mode) the publication of my novel Blonde in 2000.

Do awards hold much importance for you? 

Like most writers I think of awards as encouragements. Writers do need almost daily, hourly encouragement – in the face of much self-doubt & frustration. 

Why write under pseudonyms? 

I have more or less ceased writing under pseudonyms but I did write an essay on the subject once. The many, many writers who have published under pseudonyms through the centuries is a fascinating subject. Obviously, one writes under another name to assure some sort of freedom, aesthetic or otherwise – a break from the "usual" self & reputation. 

Your fiction often has Gothic elements. Why are you so fascinated by the dark side of life? 

Isn't everyone? This is a strange question in an era in which vampire tales of all sorts are extraordinarily popular. To me the Gothic is the surreal. The surreal is the dream-like. We are surrounded by mysteries, and in our own dreams we are confronted with remarkable images we could not have created in our conscious lives. 

Why write so many dislikeable characters? 

Again, why not? Are there not "dislikeable characters" in the world? I think, too, that this may be a matter of taste: some people may find us likeable or dislikeable. We would not even know why nor could they accurately explain. 

Where do you find your inspiration? 

Inspiration comes from all sources, but it has to be bolstered somehow by a connection with the personal, often the deep-buried inside us. 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? What advice would you give to writers that are? 

"Writer's block" is a sort of comical term. Often, if one is not ready to write, the writing won't come, more preparation is needed. Perhaps research, first drafts, sketches. As film pre-production is much longer than the actual making of a movie, so pre-production is necessary for a work of fiction, and especially a long work. 

Jane Smiley recently claimed that your America is “violent, ugly and spiritually bereft”.  Would you agree? 

Jane Smiley has her own, very eloquent opinion. Why would anyone disagree?

What role does teaching play in your life? 

Teaching is immensely enjoyable, stimulating and illuminating – the very antithesis of the writer's solitary life. 

You’ve been teaching at Princeton for over 30 years now. What shifts have the teaching of creative writing taken during this time? 

Not much has changed in "creative writing". Perhaps relatively superficial technological change, but otherwise, no. Some of my students even write first drafts in long-hand. 

You recently discovered that you have a Jewish ancestry. Does it change your sense of who you are?

Yes, certainly. I have written about Jewish themes in The Tattooed Girl and particularly The Gravedigger’s Daughter. 

Are women any closer to equality now, than when you started writing? 

Yes, certainly women are "closer" to equality in the United States as in other "first world" countries. But this is not at all the case elsewhere in the world. 

Your fiction often centres on families. Do you think the dynamic of a family unit has transformed over the years? 

Families are the focus of intense concentration in our lives, and so in our works of art. The "family" has been evolving in remarkable ways and fiction mirrors this – as in my novel of family life We Are The Mulvaneys in which the family re-convenes with a new identity after the death of the patriarchal father. 

I’ve heard you’re a runner - what is it about running that you enjoy? 

All runners love running. it is an exquisite experience. I am very dependent upon running, or in any case fast walking, to help me with my writing. 

The Edinburgh Book Festival blurb elusively states that your two new novels deal with young people coming to terms with their sexuality. Could you elaborate a little? 

I find the lives of "young people" absolutely sympathetic and emblematic of our lives as adults – except adolescents experience emotions more keenly, more vividly, and are perhaps vulnerable in ways that adults are no longer. My novels about young people are not exclusively about "coming to terms with sexuality," but about many other things as well: achieving an identity; independence from family and "elders"; discovering the rich, ever-promising life of the imagination within.