As It Stands, Motherhood Is A Sort

Human Beings Have A Need, Generally, To Destroy Things. The Freudian Principle Of Civilisation Is Correct. There's Always, Always A Difference Between The Family Image And The Reality.

I'm A Novelist, Not A Social Scientist Or A Commentator.

As Writers Go, I Have A Skin Of Average Thickness. I Am Pleased By A Good Review, Disappointed By A Bad. None Of It Penetrates Far Enough To Influence The Thing I Write Next.

There Is A Slovenly Disrespect For Truth And Reality That Has Infected And Cross-infected The Arts; The Values Of Entertainment Are Relentlessly In The Ascendant, To The Extent That It Becomes Virtually Impossible To Write A Naturalistic Fictional Sentence Without Feeling That The Fabric Of That Sentence Is Already Compromised.

There Is Always Shame In The Creation Of An Expressive Work, Whether It's A Book Or A Clay Pot. Every Artist Worries About How They Will Be Seen By Others Through Their Work. When You Create, You Aspire To Do Justice To Yourself, To Remake Yourself, And There Is Always The Fear That You Will Expose The Very Thing That You Hoped To Transform.