PRYNNE
I was in America on this cracked-up studentship. It was a curious *affair *because it was rather grand, and I got it after some complicated and *demanding interviews—but it didn’t do very much in the way of income. I was impoverished as a student in America. I couldn’t travel, I couldn’t buy books, I couldn’t do anything very much. I didn’t have any money, which suited me fine, but I led a very isolated life. Popping in and out of the library and doing my stuff, I had a chance to assimilate some of my previous educational experiences and to reflect on what I was going to do if I was going to do any more writing and what kind of writing it was going to be. Grave isolation was quite significantly useful for that purpose.
I used to have my meals in an automat. I liked automats because they were completely impersonal. You just opened the small door and took out the plate and that was what you ate, you know. I remember thinking, I have rather few personal connections in this world. How far through this world could I go without exchanging a spoken word? Without any force, you know, just not actually speaking when you didn’t need to. My record was two and a half weeks. And this automat was one way of dispensing with chatter in mealtime. So I did have an isolated life. It was useful to me. I enjoyed it well.