In this candid video interview, novelist John Irving confessed that his first novel, "Setting Free The Bears," would not be published in our 21st Century publishing industry.

In a new Big Think interview, he explained: "If I were twenty-seven and trying to publish my first novel today, I might be tempted to shoot myself...I think it's a lot tougher to be a first [time] novelist, to be an unknown novelist today than it was for me and so I worry about what's going to happen with those good, younger writers. But I don't think the book is in any particular peril, I think the book is going to survive."

The quote was part of a simple series of interviews with the novelist, each broken into easily digestible segments. Among other topics, he covered how writers should think about movies and why he can't leave the United States.