It's remarkable how powerfully he resists the interviewer's prompts to recount people, events, and work from his past. It's as if he's painfully aware of people

It's remarkable how powerfully he resists the interviewer's prompts to recount people, events, and work from his past. It's as if he's painfully aware of peoples' (perhaps writers in particular) tendency to fabricate cohesive, compelling narratives based on fragments of memory and avoids it entirely for fear of saying something that lacks authenticity. It's particularly apparent when the interviewer brings up things Hemingway is quoted as saying, prompting responses that seem to carry some combination of resentment and shame.