''Serious artists are always worth paying attention to, because they have made the attempt to step outside of the immediate social situation, get some perspective on it, diagnose what's wrong. Walker Percy says the novelist is essentially a diagnostician. He's maybe not equipped to administer a cure, but he is pretty well equipped to interpret the symptoms. I suppose that's another place where I'm like Vonnegut. We do a lot of ranting and raving against human foibles.'' James Morrow