Proust is a hero of mine. I read 'A la recherche' in one go, and I'm a very slow reader. It had an astonishing impact, reading it on my own and being my main company. I think Proust is the most intelligent person to ever have written a novel.

I'm not trying to uncover the facts of my life but to discover the dramatic truth of the situations I was in.

No pain is too small if it hurts, but any pain is too big if it's cherished.

The thing about the 'Melrose' novels is that I have to feel they're impossible when I set out.

Surely: the adverb of a man without an argument.

Looking after children can be a subtle way of giving up... They become the whole ones, the well ones, the postponement of happiness, the ones who won't drink too much, give up, get divorced, become mentally ill. The part of oneself that's fighting against decay and depression is transferred to guarding them from decay and depression. In the meantime one decays and gets depressed.

I'm really not responsible for what mental operation people have when they're reading my books other than the ones which are created by literary effects.