As soon as you start writing about how human beings interact with each other socially, you're into politics, aren't you?
Jonathan CoeI was mainly in a state of nervousness while I wrote it - nervousness that it was far bigger and more complicated than anything Id attempted before, and that maybe my talent just wasnt up to it and the book would have to be abandoned, or would turn out not to work at all when it was finished.
Jonathan CoeThe biggest markets for my books outside the UK are France and Italy, and those are the two countries where I also have the closest personal relationships with my translators - I don't know whether that's a coincidence, or if there's something to be learned from it.
Jonathan CoeIt seems to me that you would have to write a novel on a very small, intimate scale for it not to become political.
Jonathan Coe