Conversations with American Novelists

Book excerpt: Readers of fine novels cherish the opportunity to hear their favorite novelists speak directly, without commentary or interpretation, about how their lives and concerns drive their fiction writing. For twenty years The Missouri Review has brought these readers some of the most compelling and thought- provoking literary interviews in print. In this collection of fifteen in-depth interviews with contemporary novelists, the authors discuss the style and themes of their work, their writing habits, their cultural and social backgrounds, and larger aesthetic issues with refreshing insight about themselves and their art. Originally conducted for the American Audio Prose Library, the interviews were then edited for publication in The Missouri Review. Here they are reproduced with an introduction and with a brief biographical and bibliographical headnote for each writer. These candid interviews with some of our favorite novelists are sure to delight all readers. Authors Interviewed in This Volume: Robert Stone Jamaica Kincaid Jim Harrison Tom McGuane Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris John Edgar Wideman Robb Forman Dew Rosellen Brown Peter Matthiessen Scott Turow Margaret Walker Linda Hogan Robert Olen Butler Jessica Hagedorn Larry Brown