Contemporary Britain seems an endlessly fascinating place to me - but if I knew a little bit more about other places, and other times, maybe it wouldn't.
Jonathan CoeYou would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it.
Jonathan CoeI like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history.
Jonathan CoeSometimes I feel that I am destined always to be offstage whenever the main action occurs. That God has made me the victim of some cosmic practical joke, by assigning me little more than a walk-on part in my own life. Or sometimes I feel that my role is simply to be a spectator to other people's stories, and always to wander away at the most important moment, drifiting into the kitchen to make a cup of tea just as the denouement unfolds.
Jonathan Coe