Paris Review on Women Writers, Henry James, Eudora Welty

As a treat for myself after all the professional reading I've done, I read James' essay on the art of fiction, several essays from Welty from Eye of the Story, and then the collection of Paris Review interviews on women writers. James' essay was charming, and I agree with him that the task of the novelist is to create a believable, world. Welty was a little less good, although she is the author of the best short story I've ever read, about a lonely deaf man. I can't think of any insight gained from what she wrote in those essays. The interviews, on the other hand, were a revelation. Some authors give terrible interviews, some authors cannot talk about their process in an illuminating way. Some have led terrible lives -- Anne Sexton committed suicide. Hellman sounded raspy even on the printed page. I really enjoyed how they discussed where and how they wrote. All of them would have benefited from the word-processing age. Anyway, I stayed up way past my bedtime because I couldn't put it down.