When I Got To 40 Or So...

I Felt Slightly Superior To Student Politics, For Instance. I Had No Reason To Think This, But I Thought Of Myself As Slightly More Seasoned. I Became Quite Cynical Talking To My Student Friends.

The Problem, As I See It, Is That You've Been Told And Not Told. You've Been Told, But None Of You Really Understand, And I Dare Say, Some People Are Quite Happy To Leave It That Way.

I Like Novelists Who Can Create Other Interesting Worlds.

Indeed — Why Should I Not Admit It? — In That Moment, My Heart Was Breaking.

I Want My Words To Survive Translation. I Know When I Write A Book Now I Will Have To Go And Spend Three Days Being Intensely Interrogated By Journalists In Denmark Or Wherever. That Fact, I Believe, Informs The Way I Write - With Those Danish Journalists Leaning Over My Shoulder.