The act of writing is a kind of catharsis, a liberation, but I never really concerned myself with that. I write because it interests me.

Those who live in a world of human beings can only retrace their steps.

The novel moves like all the arts. It's transforming itself all the time.

For me, the poetry in a work is that which makes visible the invisible.

I don't for a minute think that Hitler is like Joan of Arc. But I think that at that deep level of tropisms, Hitler or Stalin must have experienced the same tropisms as anyone else.

I have never sought the reason why I write.

One can't write without having read - you have to read before beginning to write - and universities offer a very good opportunity to read.