ALIVE AND WRITING: Interviews with American Authors of the 1980s

by Larry & Sinda Gregory--Eds. McCaffery ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 29, 1987

A harvest from literary magazines of interviews with contemporary American fiction writers. McCaffery and Gregory talk with a spectrum of writers here, from science-fiction authors like Ursula K. Le Guin and Samuel Delaney to more ratified mainstreamers such as the elegant Edmund White, who, speaking from his Paris home, utters obscure comments like ""I'm intrigued by the idea of neotony."" Meanwhile, some more trendy writers speak more plainly, like Max Apple: ""Once upon a time there was a vegetarian with one testicle who decided he wanted to kill all the Jews in the world, and one of the most sophisticated nations in the history of the world went along with him."" Writers such as Tom Robbins, Barry Hannah, Ann Beattie, Walter Abish, and Russell Hoban may have little in common other than their inclusion here, and few readers will share the editors' enthusiasm for all these authors. Nevertheless, for interviews of the Paris Review variety--down to questions about the type of pencils a writer uses, as well as influences and favorite readings--these offer sympathetic, intriguing book-chat.

Pub Date: July 29, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Univ. of Illinois Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1987

Categories: NONFICTION