SOURCE: "A Conversation with Thomas McGuane," in Shenandoah, Vol. XXXVI, No. 2, 1986, pp. 12-21.

In the following interview conducted in March of 1984, Lear and McGuane discuss the metaphysical implications of McGuane's fiction, ending with a focus on the recurrent imagery of wild dogs, wolves, and coyotes in his novels. To McGuane, these symbolize the threat of an apocalyptic end to humanity.

McGuane lives mostly on a ranch in Montana with his wife Laurie, and various children: his, hers and theirs. In prosperous years he spends some of the winter in Key West, where he keeps a sailboat. He is an accomplished and avid sportsman, with a preference for hunting, fishing, sailing, and riding cutting horses, which he also raises. Looking every inch the rancher/sportsman, he is tall, dark and ruggedly handsome.

This conversation took place in a house in Key West that McGuane had rented from fellow writer...