I Want My Words To Survive Translation.

Memory Is Quite Central For Me. Part Of It Is That I Like The Actual Texture Of Writing Through Memory.

I Actually Dislike, More Than Many People, Working Through Literary Allusion. I Just Feel That There's Something A Bit Snobbish Or Elitist About That. I Don't Like It As A Reader, When I'm Reading Something. It's Not Just The Elitism Of It; It Jolts Me Out Of The Mode In Which I'm Reading. I've Immersed Myself In The World And Then When The Light Goes On I'm Supposed To Be Making Some Kind Of Literary Comparison To Another Text. I Find I'm Pulled Out Of My Kind Of Fictional World, I'm Asked To Use My Brain In A Different Kind Of Way. I Don't Like That.

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.

Throughout My Career I've Struggled To Encourage People To Read My Books On A More Metaphorical Level. I'm Less Attached To My Settings Than, For Example, Saul Bellow. The Setting Of A Novel For Me Is Just A Part Of The Technique. I Choose It At The End.

Every Country Should Have A Strong Literary Tradition Of Its Own At The Center, But It Should Also Have An Interest In Other Countries.