As a novelist, I think of myself, and have from the beginning, as a free American and—, fastened throughout my life to the American moment, under the spell of the country’s past, partaking of its drama and destiny, and writing in the rich native tongue by which I am possessed. – Philip Roth

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/i-have-fallen-in-love-with-american-names