ON THE SUPERSTITIOUS WRITER

“I suppose my superstitiousness could be termed a quirk. I have to add up all numbers: there are some people I never telephone because their number adds up to an unlucky figure. Or I won’t accept a hotel room for the same reason. I will not tolerate the presence of yellow roses — which is sad, because they’re my favourite flower.

I can’t allow three cigarette butts in the same ashtray. Won’t travel on a plane with two nuns. Won’t begin or end anything on a Friday. It’s endless, the things I can’t and won’t. But I derive some curious comfort from obeying these primitive concepts.”—Truman Capote, The Paris Review Interviews vol. 1.

There’s a prize for anyone who writes a joke that begins: “Truman Capote was on a plane with two nuns …”

The Paris Review interview website is here, for your gorging.