In the average European oil painting of the nude the principal protagonist is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man.

It is not usually possible in a poem or a story to make the relationship between particular and universal fully explicit. Those who try to do so end up writing parables.

Emigration, forced or chosen, across national frontiers or from village to metropolis, is the quintessential experience of our time.

Between the experience of living a normal life at this moment on the planet and the public narratives being offered to give a sense to that life, the empty space, the gap, is enormous.

Autobiography begins with a sense of being alone. It is an orphan form.

I wanted to write about looking at the world, so it's more about helping people, or persuading people, to see what is around us; both the marvellous and the terrible.

The publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product.