If You Don't Set Your Writing -

John Updike Is Always Fun. And One Of My Former Students, Tom Pynchon. And Harold Bloom, Another Former Student.

At First, Students Tend To Freeze At The First Effort. The Breakthrough Comes When They Realize That They Can Make It Better - Can Identify What Their Purposes Were And Realize Better Ways To Achieve Those Purposes.

When I Was A Graduate Student, The Leading Spirits At Harvard Were Interested In The History Of Ideas.

Life Without Literature Is A Life Reduced To Penury. It Expands You In Every Way. It Illuminates What You’re Doing. It Shows You Possibilities You Haven’t Thought Of. It Enables You To Live The Lives Of Other People Than Yourself. It Broadens You, It Makes You More Human. It Makes Life Enjoyable.

When Something Startlingly New Comes Up, Young People, Especially, Seize It. You Can't Complain About That. I Think Its Heyday Has Passed, But It's Had An Effect And Will Continue To Have An Effect.