From Ron Hansen, Santa Clara University professor (The Santa Clara, November 11, 2010, page 4):
Writers have a sense of themselves as spies and observers...Most writers I know fit into society very well and are not instantly recognizable as 'artists,' but most are also ornery, exceptional, and, to a greater or lesser degree, sui generis. Our sympathies will be with outsiders. We are, in Ignatius of Loyola's fine phrase, 'in the world but not of it.'"
More here.