Wright kept talking. “For me [Stephen] King is Emily Dickinson with balls, Emily Dickinson if she got the hell out of her house and lived in the real world.”

Horowitz leaned toward Adi. “I think the philosophers of old got it wrong. The big question in life is not how much pain and suffering can we endure, but how much happiness can we bear. That’s the real existential question for post-industrial, agnostic man. Things are going to get better for us. How many cruises can you take in retirement? How many all-you-can-eat buffets can you visit? These are the real issues facing us!”

–both from “Death of a Writer” by Michael Collins.