I said, “My novel is purely autobiographical. Everything in it is exactly as it happened, moment by moment–sometimes even written down moments after the event. The main character bears my name. I’m writing it in order to persuade the love of my life to come back to me; I’m afraid it’s going to be a very long book. That’s the avant-garde technique I’ve invented: it’s called realism.”
–Edmund White, The Farewell Symphony