I have written an Introduction to Charles Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS, the Bantam Classic paperback edition. That Introduction is also published in a collection of my shorter works, TRYING TO SAVE PIGGY SNEED, which is published by Ballantine. That essay is the best answer to this questions that exists. Go read it.
If Dickens showed up for one day, what would you a) hope to get out of him and, b) who would you want to introduce him to?
This is one of those speculative "real life" questions that have no meaning to me. I would take Dickens to see a good movie. If Dickens were alive today, he would still be a novelist but he would also be a screenwriter and probably a director. He had a dramatic interest, which today would not be satisfied in the theater. He would probably be making movies and writing novels. But I don't really think about questions of this kind.
What are your thoughts on the present political situation in Austria, as it regards Joerg Haider?
I don't know much about Austria right now. I was in Vienna when the news about Waldheim's past was circulated, and it was disconcerting to see how he was embraced for this by the Austrians. Vienna has always struck me as a small, provincial town with a small town's xenophobia. Austrians have a poor record of accepting "others". Even the way they say "Auslander"-- foreigner-- has an edge to it that's derogatory. I stopped skiing there some years ago because the Austrians are ruder than other Europeans I have skied with. I don't know why. I don't live in Vienna anymore-- I haven't lived there in a long time, and I won't live there again. I don't think about Austria much anymore.
Is wrestling superior to all other sports and if so, why?
No, wrestling isn't necessarily "superior" to other sports. Any athlete who dedicates himself or herself to any sport should not be insulted by hearing someone say his or her sport is "superior". I liked wrestling better than any other sport. I loved it. I competed as a wrestler for twenty years. I coached the sport until I was forty-seven. I retired then (that was ten years ago), and I have no connection to wrestling anymore. I try to see some matches every year. I go to the NCAA tournament when I can. I will always love wrestling for the discipline it taught me. And I will also love the sport itself. But I know people who are as passionate about tennis or skiing as I was about wrestling. Now I'm just a spectator. I follow what happens in the sport. I have many wrestling and ex-wrestling friends, but I'm not part of it to the degree that I was.
