Rather than regret for what I have written, I feel regret for what I shall never be able to read.

No, I'm happy to go on living the life I've chosen. I'm a university teacher and I like my job.

Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.

A l'intérieur de ce corps vivait l'âme d'une intellectuelle et poète dont personne n'avait le soupçon. Within this body lived the soul of an intellectual and poet, which nobody had suspected.

My job is to look at what politics is doing, not be a politician myself.

I vividly remember the stories my grandfather told me about the carnage of the First World War, which people tend to forget was one of the worst massacres in human history.

My books are about losers, about people who've lost their way and are engaged in a search.