The books that we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.
我们爱的书，它们也爱我们。正如我们在书页中标记位置，那些书页也在我们身上留下印记。
I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you—it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.
我不能也不愿生活在谨慎的世界里，至少作为作家不行。我向你保证，我宁愿如此——那样生活会更容易。但不幸的是，谨慎不适合小说家。
The pleasure isn’t in owning the person. The pleasure is this. Having another contender in the room with you.
快乐不在于占有这个人。快乐在于此。房间里有了另一个竞争者。
The only obsession everyone wants: ‘love.’ People think that in falling in love they make themselves whole? The Platonic union of souls? I think otherwise. I think you’re whole before you begin. And the love fractures you. You’re whole, and then you’re cracked open.
I write fiction and I’m told it’s autobiography, I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn’t.
我写小说，人们说那是自传；我写自传，人们说那是小说。既然我这么笨，他们这么聪明，那就让他们决定是什么或不是什么吧。
The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It’s getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again.
The writer’s life is a meaningless question. I’m interested in the books.
作家的生活是一个毫无意义的问题。我对书感兴趣。
文学不是一场道德选美比赛。
I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out, ‘Is he as crazy as I am?’ I don’t need that question answered.
我不问作家关于他们的工作习惯。我真的不在乎。乔伊斯·卡罗尔·欧茨在某个地方说过，当作家们互相询问他们什么时候开始工作，什么时候结束，以及午餐花多长时间时，他们实际上是在试图找出，“他和我一样疯狂吗？”我不需要这个问题的答案。
The writer’s life is a life of obsession.
作家的生活是一种痴迷的生活。
The novel is the great art form of the human condition.
小说是人类处境的伟大艺术形式。
The writer’s life is a life of struggle.
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