In order not to cut out a large part of one's private life, the creative work should not swallow up every other form of self-expression. But that is the most complicated thing.

As a girl - twelve, thirteen years old - I was absolutely certain that a good book had to have a man as its hero, and that depressed me.

Is it possible that even happy moments of pleasure never stand up to a rigorous examination? Possible.

I had to discover very quickly that class origins cannot be erased, regardless of whether we climb up or down the sociocultural ladder.

Anonymity lets me concentrate exclusively on writing.

I believe that books, once they are written, have no need of their authors.

Climbing the economic ladder has been very hard for me; I still feel a great deal of guilt towards those I left behind.