And there I seem to get by as somebody who's commented on our own time. In this country, actually to persist with one subject and to work that field as I have done is simply perceived as hack work. The notion that you might be using a microcosm to illustrate a larger context is considered pretentious. On the whole I've avoided the company of my fellow English writers and that world. I think that it threatens me in a number of ways.
Envy is always up and running.
I've made a lot of money out of writing, I've made a name. But more particularly I fear for myself that I could be drawn towards their standards and their pretensions. I don't read them. I feel we're simply not in the same ball park. I don't mean I'm better or worse, I mean we're just doing completely different things.