While the New York papers don’t seem to be having a lot of luck these days talking with Richard Powers before the National Book Awards, yet another Chicago media outlet nabs an interview with Powers: this time, it’s the Chicago Reader. It’s an interesting interview. Here, for example, is s Powers on the midwestern narrative:

I don’t think there’s a single midwestern narrative. I’ve tried different ways in several books to tap into some of those long rhythms that the midwest invites us to hear. But it’s a subtle place that opens up only gradually as you keep looking at it, and keep listening.

But I think there’s something else about the midwest. It’s the portion of the country that supports the coasts and makes the coasts possible, so it’s absolutely essential to how the American mind works in its role as a kind of primary producer for all the rest of this complex ecosystem. So that’s always intrigued me: America stripped bare. America without props and without distractions or disguises and protections.