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I get up at an unholy hour in the morning my work day is completed by the time the sun rises. I have a slightly bad back which has made an enormous contribution to American literature.

I have very positive memories of reading biographies of unusual Americans as a child.

I have an English literature degree. I wanted to be the next great American novelist from a very early age, but I put it aside for a while, because I got very realistic at one point.

There is far too much literary criticism of the wrong kind. That is why I never could have survived as an academic.

I've always tried to write about America. It's very worth a writer's effort.

I'm not famous for my back story investigations; I'm lucky that I work with good writers and it's usually in the script.

I spent four years doing a doctorate in postmodern American literature. I can recognize it when I see it.

American literature had always considered writing a very serious matter.