When I began writing. I was what was politely called "a foreign servant". I went to my employers and said that I'd written my first novel. They read it and said they had no objections, but even if it were about butterflies, they said, I would have to choose a pseudonym.


Paris Review (Summer 1997)


When I began writing. I was what was politely called a foreign servant. I went to my employers and said that I'd written my first novel. They read it ...

When I began writing. I was what was politely called a foreign servant. I went to my employers and said that I'd written my first novel. They read it ...

When I began writing. I was what was politely called a foreign servant. I went to my employers and said that I'd written my first novel. They read it ...

When I began writing. I was what was politely called a foreign servant. I went to my employers and said that I'd written my first novel. They read it ...