So why do you keep a gun in the house?

Well, Michael, you can ask me whatever you want.

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Why a gun in the house?

Well actually, Michael, I’ve got at least six.

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Why guns?

Well, I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe if people have guns it keeps the government honest.

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There are at least six governments.

That’s right. And they’re all mine!

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In Europe writers assume a moral responsibility. But this is not necessarily true in America.

Yeah, it didn’t used to be that way in the U.S., but unfortunately the media, particularly television, gives people a shorter and shorter amount of time to speak, and less and less control over what they say. So, moral questions tend to be complicated and take a little bit of time. That’s one of the reasons I never watch television.

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And you don’t have e-mail or use the internet?

No, I never got around to that.

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Why such a great interest in comparative literature? 

Well, since I was a child I’ve always loved stories. I love to read and I’ve always had this feeling of adventure when I read something a little bit exotic or different, and I really get caught up in it. So, if I read classical Japanese literature, or central European literature from the period of the second world war, I feel like I’m learning something that I couldn’t have learned otherwise. What is it that makes human beings what they are? If you read literature from another time or another place there’s going to be a lot that’s not familiar, but the characters are going to have the same emotions. So I think by reading widely, you really learn what it is to be human, and that’s the purpose of education.

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As an eternal messenger, recently nosing around the Philippines and Japan. 

Well, in Japan I had a great chance. I got to meet a fifty-eighth generation Noh actor, who had a lot of masks in his family. Brilliant performer, I got to see him and ask him lots of questions. I feel like I know a little bit more about that amazing art form, so that was pretty exciting. I hope to go back there again, actually.

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And the Philippines?

I haven’t been to the Philippines yet.

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You told me you were going.

I have not gone yet. The last place I went before that was the Congo, where I managed to get arrested every couple of days; that was kind of fun.

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Why were you there?

I was writing an article for a magazine. So, I had my camera, and every time I’d take a picture of a little kid or a bush in the street, some police would come running out and tell me that this was a security zone and I had to go to jail, so, I would go, and ask them how much the fine was and whether I could get a permit that would allow me to take pictures of everything, forever, in all places. So I would pay two or three hundred dollars and get some beautiful permit, and then two or three days later, I would take a picture of a beggar or something, and they would all arrest me because that beggar was excluded from the permit. So it was fun, really.

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You’re very sensitive to the pain in the world. 

Well, it’s important, I think, to always try to help other people, if you go to a place where people are worse off than you. I basically make my living by going to places where people are suffering, and if all I did was make money from their suffering that would be really terrible. But if I can make money from their suffering and also spend a little bit of it on them, then they’re happy, and I’m happy too, I guess.

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Excluding Philadelphia, where was the worst place you’ve been?

Well, there have been so many places that are terrible in different ways. It’s really hard to answer that. There are places where people have no sense of community and social responsibility, and then when they’re poor, everything is filthy, the people can’t trust each other. Those are terrible places. And then there are other places where the violence might be more intense – you know, war zones – but the people are in some sense united against the violence. I’ve been to Colombia a couple of times, and that country, as you may know, has suffered from civil war for half a century. And the streets are really creepy, especially in the small towns. Just very, very dangerous, you really shouldn’t go out by yourself. But they compensate with real warmth. Once you’re in somebody’s house, you’re safe, you’re protected. That person is sincerely interested in you, and even affectionate. It’s really wonderful and special, and it’s the result of this awful war outside. So, who’s to say, what kind of situation is better or worse?

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June, 2006