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Review of 'Paris Review Interviews' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Even though the interview with Graham Greene was slightly disappointing and the one with William Faulkner showed him as quite arrogant - despite his writing being hailed by virtually every other author interviewed from the 1950s to the 1980s - there were quite a few eye-openers here.

Isaac Bashevis Singer's very subtle and very welcoming manners definitely lured me to examine his writing, and his view on forthcoming technology was definitely enough to have me drawn in.

Gabriel García Márquez was also quite humble, and made me wish to delve into his writing.

Speaking of which, a bunch of the authors in this volume refer to his "magical realism", a term I haven't come to grips with; other writers are also mentioned to adhere to this type of writing.

Philip Larkin, refusing to be interviewed in person, is here in print for one of the very few times he's been interviewed at all. He's witty, funny and very staunch. I love the way he views things, apart from how he dislikes modernism and thinks one jazz-musician killed jazz for all future. Still, Larkin didn't want to be named Poet Laureate for which I will always revere him, not to mention his style of writing and poems.

Harold Bloom and Toni Morrison both added inspiration and insight, but William Gaddis infused me with nothing. Alice Munro seems frank and easy-going, and Stephen King is...slighted by Stanley Kubrick, as always.

All in all: a very recommendable volume. Can't wait to get into the others!

I've screen-shot a bunch of pages from this volume, and they're viewable for your pleasure here. issuu.com/pivic/docs/parisreviewinterviewsvol2