I hope my books make statements about our general condition.
We just got to go on, that's all. That's what grownups would do.
I also know Patrick White in Australia, both personally and as a writer, and Salman Rushdie in India.
Language fits over experience like a straight-jacket.
Of the authors writing in English, I'd mention Shakespeare and Milton. But all this is terribly high-hat and makes me sound very po-faced, I'm afraid; however, I just happen to like these enormous, swinging, great creatures.
Graham Greene at 82 years old was still writing, and I don't think anyone can deny the force, the expertise, and the unique quality of his writing, if you take his complete oeuvre.