Mr. Smart Guy Speaks

That interview I told you about is out in public now, so I can reveal, as promised, the crazy thing that popped out of my mouth (as I predicted, it ended up in the article). Here it is: I referred to my writing method as the "non-ironic appropriation of the trappings of irony." What does that even MEAN? It just came out! But anyway, I think they did a very nice job with the interview and any crazy things I said were entirely my own fault. Honestly, the interviewer painted me in the best possible light, and I'm grateful. I'm pretty sure the article makes it clear, but I want to make it doubly clear that the phrase "comic virus" (which is in the title of the article) comes from George Saunders - I didn't invent it! Also, the article kindly says that Mr. Saunders and I "share" a fondness for the "inarticulate narrator," but it is really the case that reading the story "Jon" by Mr. Saunders in THE NEW YORKER is what opened my eyes to the power and uses of a particular kind of inarticulate narrator... though not one as inarticulate as I am being right now! So Mr. Saunders shared it with me, but I am not sure I shared it with Mr. Saunders, if that makes sense, and it almost certainly doesn't. I promise never to talk about my "writing" again!