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I've never felt influenced by Ernest Hemingway though I suppose there is something inevitable there.

I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.

Like most writers, I've read a lot of Hemingway, and I admire him greatly.

Of course, I'm of the generation that grew up with Hemingway and Faulkner as strong influences.

Hemingway seems to be in a funny position. People nowadays can't identify with him closely as a member of their own generation, and he isn't yet historical.

The thing about Hemingway that people forget is that all the stuff he did was at a time where people weren't traveling that much. At 19 he travels to Italy. He goes to the Spanish Civil War. He goes to China, he goes to Africa so at that time to travel that much is really incredible.

I'm not comparing myself at all to him, but I like the idea that Ernest Hemingway always wrote about certain things he knew, he knew the ins and outs, back to fronts of what he was talking about. I love that as an inspiration for myself, to keep it true to what you know.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

I still read Hemingway. I still read his short stories because they're so good. He doesn't waste any words.