Philip Roth

My job isn’t to be enraged. My job is what Chekhov said the job of an artist was, which is, “the proper presentation of the problem.” The job of the writer is not to provide the solution to a problem. That’s the obligation of a legislator, a leader, a crusader, a revolutionary, a warrior, and so on. That’s not the goal or aim of the writer. You aren’t selling, and you’re not inviting condemnation. You’re inviting understanding.

PHILIP ROTH