The Art of Fiction No. 221
INTERVIEWER
Against whom were you measuring your work?
LE GUIN
Writers I’d have liked to be as good as, although not like ?
INTERVIEWER
Right.
LE GUIN
Charles Dickens. Jane Austen. And then, when I finally learned to read her, Virginia Woolf. Shoot for the top, always. You know you’ll never make it, but what’s the fun if you don’t shoot for the top?
Against whom were you measuring your work?
LE GUIN
Writers I’d have liked to be as good as, although not like ?
INTERVIEWER
Right.
LE GUIN
Charles Dickens. Jane Austen. And then, when I finally learned to read her, Virginia Woolf. Shoot for the top, always. You know you’ll never make it, but what’s the fun if you don’t shoot for the top?