Violence represents the worst kind of conformism.

Violence represents the worst kind of conformism.

I couldn't imagine any other way of living, outside of books, outside my work. Which doesn't mean I am not interested in other things, of course - I am interested in many things. But the center, the crux, is always literature.

I convinced her that her first loyalty isn't to other people, but to her own feelings.

It isn't true that convicts live like animals: animals have more room to move around.

I always write a draft version of the novel in which I try to develop, not the story, not the plot, but the possibilities of the plot. I write without thinking much, trying to overcome all kinds of self-criticism, without stopping, without giving any consideration to the style or structure of the novel, only putting down on paper everything that can be used as raw material, very crude material for later development in the story.

Maintain democracy or go to dictatorship: that is what is at stake in these elections.