Reading Myself and Others

AUTHOR'S NOTE ix
One
Writing and the Powers That Be 3
On Portnoy's Complaint 15
Document Dated July 27, 1969 23
"How Did You Come to Write That Book, Anyvvayr
On Our Gang 43
The President Addresses the ,Nation 59
On The Breast 65
On The Great American Novel 75
On My Life as a Man 93
After Eight Books 99
Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur 115
Interview with The London Sunday Times 129
Interview with The Paris Revieu; 139
Two
Writing American Fiction 173
Some New Jewish Stereotypes 193
Writing About Jews 205
The Story of Three Stories 227
The Newark Public Library 231
My Baseball Years 235
Cambodia: A Modest Proposal 241
Our Castle 247
Imagining the Erotic: Three Introductions 251
1. Alan Lelchuk


2. Milan Kundera
3. Fredrica Wagman
Imagining Jews 271
"I Always Wanted You to Admire My Fasting";
or, Looking at Kafka 303