Well, to be honest I think I tell less truth when I write journalism than when I write fiction.
Julian BarnesHe thought of trying to explain something he had recently noticed about himself: that if anyone insulted him, or one of his friends, he didn't really mind--or not much, anyway. Whereas if anyone insulted a novel, a story, a poem that he loved, something visceral and volcanic occurred within him. He wasn't sure what this might mean--except perhaps that he had got life and art mixed up, back to front, upside down.
Julian BarnesWHORES. Necessary in the nineteenth century for the contraction of syphilis, without which no one could claim genius.
Julian BarnesIn 1980, I published my first novel, in the usual swirl of unjustified hope and justified anxiety.
Julian Barnes