Some People Don't Realize That

As Soon As You Start Writing About How Human Beings Interact With Each Other Socially, You're Into Politics, Aren't You?

I Was Going To Say 'my Friend Stuart', But I Suppose He's Not A Friend Any More. I Seem To Have Lost A Number Of Friends In The Last Few Years. I Don't Mean That I've Fallen Out With Them, In Any Dramatic Way. We've Just Decided Not To Stay In Touch. And That's What It's Been: A Decision, A Conscious Decision, Because It's Not Difficult To Stay In Touch With People Nowadays, There Are So Many Different Ways Of Doing It. But As You Get Older, I Think That Some Friendships Start To Feel Increasingly Redundant. You Just Find Yourself Asking, "what's The Point?" And Then You Stop.

It Seems To Me That You Would Have To Write A Novel On A Very Small, Intimate Scale For It Not To Become Political.

The Biggest Markets For My Books Outside The Uk Are France And Italy, And Those Are The Two Countries Where I Also Have The Closest Personal Relationships With My Translators - I Don't Know Whether That's A Coincidence, Or If There's Something To Be Learned From It.

The More Melancholy Side Of My Literary Personality Is Much In Tune With Bs Johnson's.