“Consequently I have never even wondered about the comparative standing of writers. I don’t understand that. Writing to me is a deeply personal, even a secret function and when the product is turned loose it is cut off from me and I have no sense of its being mine. Consequently criticism doesn’t mean anything to me. As a disciplinary matter, it is too late.”-John Steinbeck (Paris Review-The Art of Fiction No. 45)

John Steinbeck, The Art of Fiction No. 45 [The Paris Review]