SOURCE: An interview in The Georgia Review, Vol. XXXVI, No. 1, Spring, 1982, pp. 83-101.

In the following excerpt, which is taken from an interview with Caldwell at his home in Arizona in June, 1980, the author discusses various aspects of his writing process.

Many commentators have linked you to the tradition of Southwest Humor, as exemplified by Longstreet, Harris, Hooper, and others. Have you been an admirer of this group?

I hardly knew they existed. I can't recall his name, but there is one particular Georgia writer of maybe a hundred years ago who wrote little squibs of stories—one page, two pages, three pages long. I've seen them but I didn't read them; I don't even know what they're about. Now, several people have given me books of stories written in a vernacular or in dialect. They seem to think I should read these stories because that would inspire...