Description

Due to rights issues, the audio of this interview is not available online. Please contact San Diego State University, Special Collections and Archives if you wish to be granted access to the original audio. Larry McCaffery and Sinda Gregory interview Thomas McGuane in his home in Livingston, Montana. The interview begins with a discussion of writers that McGuane admires. The conversation then moves on to McGuane’s personal life and how it had been affecting his writing, specifically his autobiographical novel Panama. McGuane describes his history as a “comic novelist.” There is a discussion of the political and personal ideas explored in McGuane’s novels. McGuane talks about how he uses dialogue as the primary aspect of his writing. McGuane and McCaffery discuss the state of international fiction. There is a discussion of a comparison between McGuane’s work and Hemingway’s work. McGuane explains his difficulty in trying to teach writing. McGuane discusses his writing style and habits. McGuane answers questions about his work as a screenwriter. The interview ends with a discussion of current fiction. McGuane suggests that McCaffery interview Edmund White, mentioning that White would be in Paris for the following year which would lead to an interview in May of 1984. An edited version of this interview appears on pages 196 to 221 of Alive and Writing: Interviews with American Authors of the 1980s, ed. Larry McCaffery and Sinda Gregory, University of Illinois Press, 1987.