SOURCE: "An Interview with John Rechy," in Chicago Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, Summer, 1973, pp. 19-31.

In the interview below, Rechy discusses his literary influences, style, and the role of homosexuality in his work.

[Giles:] Would you like to begin by talking about what contemporary writers impress you?

[Rechy]: Thomas Wolfe. And when I was a kid William Faulkner, very much. In fact, when I first started writing, I thought it would be obvious, that people would say, God damn, he's trying to imitate Faulkner. I was also very influenced by Nightwood, by Djuna Barnes. I read it when I was a kid, and it influenced me not so much stylistically as in a strange, hallucinative mood that it has. I've never dug Ernest Hemingway—all that heavy posturing.

How about right now?

I admire Norman Mailer. He can do some righteous writing when he's not being a clown. This...