IN CONVERSATION . . .

With Annie Dillard

From her 12' x 16' wood cabin in the Virginia mountains, Annie Dillard spoke with Daniel Asa Rose in an exclusive phone interview.

So you granted Book World your only in-depth interview for this book. Was it because of that affair we had back in '82?

[Laughing] It slipped my mind. Refresh my memory.

OK, it wasn't technically an affair. It was a dance. We were at a mutual friend's publication party, and suddenly you yanked me onto the dance floor with these immortal words, "Now let's see what you're made of."

I said that? Usually that's how I got men to play Ping Pong with me. It was good for four points.

Well, it sure worked on me. I was intimidated the whole dance.

What were we dancing to? Fast or slow?

Fast. Disappointingly.

I can't dance anymore. Total knee replacements. I can't do anything anymore. I'm 62 now.

For me, you'll always be the way you were then: svelte, incandescent.

I kept growing through my 30s! I don't know why. Now I'm shrinking, of course. At the doctor's the other day, the form asked, "How tall are you? How tall were you?" I said, "I didn't come here to be insulted!"

Let's talk about something else that has continued to grow: your writing. This last book is about an actual affair.