Elizabeth Floyd Mair interviews E. L. Doctorow in the Times Union

Q: Some critics might say that the focus of this novel is smaller and more confined than some of your earlier works, since it doesn't feature a large cast of characters but is just the voice of one man talking about his life. Yet to me it seemed vast anyway, because of the unexpected twists that Andrew's stories take. What's your sense of whether or not the story is smaller?

A: I would say rather that this novel is not formulaic fiction — it is not a linear narrative that has at its context a recognizable social reality — the world of business, say, or of domestic life, or of war. It is large on its own terms, as is an installation, or a cubist canvas that turns everything inside out.

More:  http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Seeing-through-another-s-eyes-5252956.php

Doctorow comes to UAlbany tomorrow, Thursday, 2/27:
http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/vws.html#doctorow