Bellow: It never comes out the same way twice

This rather sweet Q&A session between Saul Bellow and some graduate students includes something I think of when people discuss "experimental" fiction versus "traditional".

Question: In our creative writing course, we've been studying two kinds of fiction: realist fiction vs. writerly or postmodern. Which do you think a writer should choose?

Bellow: I think the first thing to do is to locate your soul and find out what it has to suggest. This other thing is irrelevant. The farther you get away from the promptings of your soul, the more trouble you're in. Don't adopt any device which doesn't suit your deepest, own needs.

And there's more; with Saul Bellow, there's always more and always will be.