In novels in general - and also on the television - we do live in a world where bodies is what we are. We do not talk about the spirit or the soul, and there is a sense that we no longer talk about beliefs, either Freudian or Marxist.

We talk about feelings. And about sex. And about bodies, and their gratification, violation, repair, decoration, deferred, maybe permanently deferred, mortality. Feelings are a bodily thing, and respecting them is called, is, kindness.

In England, everyone believes if you think, then you don't feel. But all my novels are about joining together thinking and feeling.

The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.

For my true thoughts have spent more time in your company than in anyone else's, these last two or three months, and where my thoughts are, there am I, in truth".

I don't only write about English literature; I also write about chaos theory and... ants. I can understand ants.