Hospital: "a study of authors who become reclusive"

[jbor at bigpond.com]

Ran across this the other day in Janette Turner Hospital's story 'For 
Mr Voss or Occupant' (publ. 1991):

    [...]
    "Suburbanites don't understand the desire
for solitude," Laura said. "They probably think
I'm a bit weird too."
    "Yeah, well," Jilly shrugged. "I told Mrs Spicer
you were on sabbatical, writing a book. She
said that's different."
    "How kind," Laura said drily.
    "She asked me what your book's about, and I
said Patrick White and literature and stuff. I
couldn't remember exactly."
    "It's a study of authors who become reclusive.
Patrick White, Emily Dickinson, J.D. Salinger,
Thomas Pynchon. The way they create solitary
characters and personae and then disappear
into their fictions."
    Jilly mimed a theatrical yawn. "Oh wow," she
said.
    "Or maybe it's the other way round. Maybe the
characters swallow up the author. You know,
move in and take over. With both White and
Pynchon, you get a sense in the later novels
of *invasion*, and there's a line in Dickinson —"
    Jilly groaned. "I wish I had a *normal* mother.
You know, who plays tennis and stuff, and has
people round for barbecues."
    "We'll have a barbecue," Laura offered guiltily,
quickly.

    [...]

Janette Turner Hospital, _Collected Stories 1970-1995_. University of 
Queensland Press, 1995, pp. 361-2.

best