By The Tits Of Holy Agnes

When You Are Writing Laws You Are Testing Words To Find Their Utmost Power. Like Spells, They Have To Make Things Happen In The Real World, And Like Spells, They Only Work If People Believe In Them.

When I Began To Read As An Adult, I Read Almost Exclusively Novelists Of A Generation Back. I Did The Russians, Then I Started Getting More Up To Date. When You Become Published And Become A Reviewer, Piles Of Books Come Along And You Are Pushed By Fashion And What You Are Commissioned To Do.

So Many Years Of Preparation, For What Was Called Adult Life: Was It For This?

I Am Not A Historian. I Don't See What I Do As Being A Rival To Biography.

I Didn't Cry Much After I Was 35, But Staggered Stony-faced Into Middle Age, A Handkerchief Still In My Bag Just In Case.