I Feel I Grew Up In A

Yes, But Also One Of The Problems For A Novelist In Ireland Is The Fact That There Are No Formal Manners. I Mean Some People Have Beautiful Manners But There's No Kind Of Agreed Form Of Manners.

When I Was In My 20s It Did Occur To Me That There Was Something Perverted About An Attitude That Thought That Killing Somebody Was A Minor Offence Compared To Kissing Somebody.

I've Never Written Anything That Hasn't Been In My Mind For A Long Time - Seven Or Eight Years.

I Used To Take Five Or Six Books Away And Bring Five Or Six Books Back. Nobody Gave Me Direction Or Advice And I Read Much In The Way That A Boy Might Watch Television.

I Suppose . . . In Writing You Can't Have Regrets. I Mean, You Just Get It Down The Way It Was . . . It's Only Wishful Thinking That Things Could Be Other Than They Were.