E.L. Doctorow

I've never been able to read his stuff -- it's always struck me as pretentious and unnecessarily difficult. I caught part of an interview with him on television the other night, and I may have to try reading him again. In the interview, he was smug and somewhat pretentious, but he was also pretty funny. I especially liked this exchange with someone from the audience:

MAN: You said you write every day. Can you give us a clue as to what's coming up next from you, and then separately, of everything you've written in the past, what's been the thing you're most happy with?

DOCTOROW: I'll give you clues. What I'm writing now is another great novel.

[Laughter]

You want to know the particular one book you should read, is that it? Why bother adventuring into reading and figuring it out for yourself? You want a label. You want the one book that's worth reading. Is that it?

Well, let's see. You might read "Welcome to Hard Times," but that's--no. I don't think you should do that one.

"Book of Daniel" is interesting, but it's kind of a grim, complicated book, and there are certain postmodern devices in it. Forget that one.

"Ragtime"--well, that's also a mock historical chronicle, but I don't think that's for you either.

Let's see. I don't think any of them are for you.

The transcript is here.
A link to the video is on this page.