A second volume of fascinating interviews from one of the world’s best loved literary magazines
Since The Paris Review was founded in 1953, it has given us invaluable conversations with the greatest writers of our age, vivid self-portraits that are themselves works of finely-crafted literature. From Faulkner’s determination that a great novel takes ‘ninety-nine percent talent … ninety-nine percent discipline … ninety-nine percent work’, to Gabriel Márquez’s observation that ‘in the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book’, The Paris Review has elicited revelatory and revealing thoughts from our most accomplished novelists, poets and playwrights. With an introduction by Orhan Pamuk, this volume brings together another rich, varied crop of literary voices, comprising: Graham Greene, James Thurber, William Faulkner, Robert Lowell, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Eudora Welty, John Gardner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Philip Larkin, James Baldwin, William Gaddis, Harold Bloom, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, Peter Carey and Stephen King. ‘A colossal literary event’ as Gary Shteyngart put it, The Paris Review Interviews vol. 2 is a treasury of wisdom from the world’s literary masters.
“For writing nerds, this is nirvana.”
Colin Waters
sunday Herald
See more reviews
“Anyone with the slightest pretension a literary life needs to read this collection.”
the London Paper
“this second collection of the magazine’s interviews with writers is rich in delight.”
Steven Poole
the Guardian
“Wonderful collection dealing with the “how” of writing.”
Martin Tierney
the Herald
“…much like its predecessor is a bull’s-eye…this is a bible both for readers and writers, the insider gossip for those who are truly passionate about their prose.”
Francesca Segal
observer
Philip Gourevitch was named editor of The Paris Review in 2005, succeeding George Plimpton, who was editor from 1953 until his death in 2003.