This anthology is the first selection of interviews from Paris Review. The quality varies, as does the focus of each interview. Some of them are very much “writers on writing” — the interview with venerable old E. M. Forster, for example, provides some interesting insights into structure and character development. An interview with Georges Simenon, who seems bent on demystifying the work of the writer in the best Trollope tradition, was an illuminating juxtaposition. The interview with Boris Pasternak, on the other hand, is more like a fan letter. I grew bored as well with Ginsberg’s logorrhea. I am open to the possibility of mystical experience, but the Blake experience Ginsberg loved to talk at length about (the account given here appears nearly word for word in at least two other portraits) sounds more to me like an episode of mental illness. I enjoyed most of the interviews, though, particular those with Pound, Eliot, and Frost. Each of the fifteen writers (unfortunately all male) has a persona on display. In that context, it seemed normal for Hemingway to play Hemingway. In fact, he didn’t even seem as much a poseur as did Faulkner (an interview I enjoyed nevertheless). Most writers refrained from passing judgment on contemporaries. All the more striking, then, how many mentioned Faulkner, and how widely divergent the opinions were. It’s been a long time since I read The Sound and the Fury and a couple of his stories. I’m going to have another go at him and make up my own mind. ( )