“Ah, well, I have no talent for nonfiction, that's my problem.” WellsProblemTalentNonfictionFiction And Nonfiction Author:Jonathan Coe
“As soon as you start writing about how human beings interact with each other socially, you're into politics, aren't you?” WritingHumansHuman Beings Author:Jonathan Coe
“As the books grew bigger and more ambitious, the situations in question sometimes became political ones, and so it became necessary to start painting in the social background on a scale which eventually became panoramic.” BookSometimesPoliticalSocialSituationPaintingGrewBiggerScalesBackgroundsAmbitious Author:Jonathan Coe
“But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.” WritingBookStoriesTurnsNovelTroubleShort Story Author:Jonathan Coe
“But I have always - ever since The Accidental Woman - written novels about individuals attempting to make choices in the context of situations over which they have no control.” ChoicesIndividualSituationNovelWrittenAttempting Author:Jonathan Coe
“Contemporary Britain seems an endlessly fascinating place to me - but if I knew a little bit more about other places, and other times, maybe it wouldn't.” IfsLittlesSeemsBitsLittle BitContemporaryBritainFascinating Author:Jonathan Coe
“I live a perfectly happy and comfortable life in Blair's Britain, but I can't work up much affection for the culture we've created for ourselves: it's too cynical, too knowing, too ironic, too empty of real value and meaning.” I CanRealValuesCultureKnowingComfortableEmptyAffectionBritainIronicCynicalBlairReal ValueComfortable Life Author:Jonathan Coe
“I was mainly in a state of nervousness while I wrote it - nervousness that it was far bigger and more complicated than anything Id attempted before, and that maybe my talent just wasnt up to it and the book would have to be abandoned, or would turn out not to work at all when it was finished.” BookStatesTurnsTalentBiggerComplicatedFinishedAbandonedNervousness Author:Jonathan Coe
“I like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history.” IdeasBigsSpaceReaderNarrative Author:Jonathan Coe
“Revisionist historians are about to get their hands on the Thatcher years, shes probably going to be looked at again because she feels far enough away now, and we dont see her much on the political landscape in this country, shes kind of disappeared and she doesnt speak out much anymore.” FeelsYearsKindCountryEnoughHandsPoliticalSpeakLandscapeHistorianSpeaks Out Author:Jonathan Coe