Hindsight

Tom Robbins speaking to Linda Richards in January Magazine:

There was an article about me in a Los Angeles newspaper which I didn't read because I don't read articles about me. Nor have I ever visited one of the Web sites about me. But I read the headline and it said, "Robbins: A Man of Mystery," and that warmed the cockles of my heart. 

I loved that. I think too much is known about me already. I think biographical information can get in the way of the reading experience. The interchange between the reader and the work. For example, I know far too much about Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut. Because I know as much as I do about their personal lives, I can't read their work without this interjecting itself. So if I had it to do over, I'd probably go the way of J.D. Salinger or Thomas Pynchon. And just stay out of it altogether and let all the focus be on the work itself and not on me.

The full interview is here.