You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed,

or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

Hi, this is Michael Silverblad, and welcome to Bookworm.

Today, my guest is Russell Banks, the author most recently of The Sweet Hereafter,

author as well of Continental Drift and Affliction and Success Stories,

other novels and books of stories as well.

This book is published by Harper Collins. I wanted to, I guess,

begin by talking to you about sadness. These books of yours are, thank God, monumentally unhappy.

Another bummer from banks.

They take in a certain way as their theme and almost amusement at the inevitability of unhappiness. I think about that terrific story, Queen for a Day, in which a boy is itemizing his mother's growing unhappiness,

feeling that her height of success in a way will come

if she can be unhappy enough to be chosen for the queen for a day.

But unhappiness seems like an inspiration point,

and I wondered if you would talk about that a little bit.

It's a funny entry point.

I'll try to use, if I can.

There's a remark in the introduction to his stories by Thomas Pinchin,

on that book, Slow Lerner, where he says,

he's trying to make the distinction between

serious writing, quote, serious, unquote, and the rest. And he says, by serious writing, I'm

...