If you have not yet purchased, stolen, borrowed, or otherwise got hold of the Paris Review Interviews collection, you’re missing out.
I only have limited time to read at the moment, but the few interviews I’ve read thus far are outstanding in their ability to reveal something about how each writer approaches his or her craft. From T.S. Eliot on his three hour limit, to Hemingway’s tricks for keeping the “juice” flowing, the level of detail is marvellous.
As a sometime Joyce fanatic, one of my favourite quotes is from Hemingway: “The better the writers, the less they will speak about what they have written themselves. Joyce was a very great writer and he would only explain what he was doing to jerks. Other writers that he respected were supposed to be able to know what he was doing by reading it.”
The Vonnegut interview had me laughing out loud. How could you not like a guy who could tell a joke like this?
V: “Do you know why cream is so much more expensive than milk?”
Int: “No”
V: “Because the cows have to squat on those little bottles.”
Now heading off into Rebecca West territory….