She is anything but jejune. The author most recently of the story collection Can't and Won't, published next month by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Lydia Davis answers questions about reading, writing, and translating Madame Bovary.

“Do what you want to do, and don’t worry if it's a little odd or doesn’t fit the market.” Lydia Davis, whose latest collection of stories, Can't and Won't, was released in paperback by Picador in March, offers practical and reassuring advice for writers.