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The thematic, psychological, and cultural concerns of a writer are more relevant than whatever literary mode he or she chooses to deal with in any given novel.

This is not writing at all. Indeed, I could say that Shakespeare surpasses literature altogether, if I knew what I meant.

I consider what I write to be literature. I choose the words carefully.

I do think that part of literature's job is to comment on and participate in the social issues of the time.

Literature at its fullest takes human nature as its theme. That's the kind of writing that interests me.

When it's between the covers of a book, content is perceived to have literary substance - or more so that it might otherwise.

To understand a literary style, consider what it omits.

With Shakespeare, there's no subtext; you're speaking exactly what you're thinking constantly.

Some things in literature are inexplicable.

What matters in literature in the end is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor or the color of a particular human suffering.