I left school at 16 but I wish I'd gone to university - I think I would have studied English literature. I had a knack for that. But I don't think you have the kind of wisdom at 16 to make that decision.

Wisdom finds its literary expression in wisdom literature.

Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes Literature answers. Are people good or bad? You bet says Literature. But unlike other systems of knowing Literature declines to eradicate one truth in favor of another.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature to those who really like to study people is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

The genre has moved into this commercial aspect of itself and ignored this extraordinarily rich literature that's filed everywhere else except under travel.

My writing is a combination of three elements. The first is travel: not travel like a tourist but travel as exploration. The second is reading literature on the subject. The third is reflection.

In my teens I developed a passionate idolatry for a teacher of English literature. I wanted to do something that he would approve of more so I thought I should be some sort of a scholar.

Literature is my life of course but from an ontological point of view. From an existential point of view I like being a teacher.

I didn't read so much Japanese literature. Because my father was a teacher of Japanese literature I just wanted to do something else.

Internationalism on the other hand admits that spiritual achievements have their roots deep in national life from this national consciousness art and literature derive their character and strength and on it even many of the humanistic sciences are firmly based.