Backstage rivalries and pressures are described, sometimes with surprising eloquence.
Yet he still sees and describes — sometimes even introduces — himself as an Oklahoman and a Southwesterner.
In other works he described, sometimes with humour but sometimes with bitterness, the struggles of merchants to make fortunes.
The world then is an awkward nursery school with memories that are described, sometimes more than once, but never explained.
In real-life Baltimore, Maryland state – described sometimes as "Bodymore, Murderland" – there were 234 murders in 2008, the fewest in 20 years.
"I describe sometimes what I do as working with the leftovers or dusty aesthetics," she said as we had lunch in Krakow.
Soon to be Jamaica's governor, Sir Henry Morgan (described sometimes as the Welsh Alexander the Great but more often as a pox-ridden bundle of vices) terrorised the cocky conquistadores.
These chants described, sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally and openly, the individual's sexual organs.
As one study participant described, "Sometimes when I feel bad about things I would rather swallow a pill and die as long as it is not too painful".
And the Lancet report describes, sometimes in scary terms, how much worse things could get if we don't act now.
Radiation-induced inflammation is always observed, often described, sometimes partly explained, but still today far from being completely understood.
