“Adventure, the first great theme of the novel.”
“They say great themes make great novels.. but what these young writers don't understand is that there is no greater theme than men and women.”
“ It is as true for the writer as for the reader that any novel worth its ink should be an experience first and foremost—not an essay, not a statement, not an orderly rollout of themes and propositions. All of which is to say: stories, too, are wild things. ”
“I began to write fiction on the assumption that the true enemies of the novel were plot, character, setting and theme.”
“...the great theme of the private journal in the 20th century is sickness.”
“All great novels, all true novels, are bisexual.”