“I have always believed that life is a moral experience—that, in the end, there is no escape from a moral summary of one’s life. The story of the individual soul on its journey is the only one worth telling. That’s why I write. I have little or no interest—nor, I believe, any ability whatsoever—to describe the surface experiences of life. Like that of Ruth in Sin, the voice of the man in Damage (and I heard his voice long before I wrote the novel) spoke to me clearly, as do the narrators in all my books. One knows immediately whether a “voice” is true or not. If it is not, I don't listen. And I don't write.”